New Cork nursing home beds among 230 public places expected this year

Kieran O’Donnell said nine public nursing home facilities will be announced or opened this year amid ongoing sector concerns

Overall, 230 additional public nursing home beds are expected to have been added to the system this year through various pathways. File picture

The final nursing homes in a group that were expected to open two years ago will open by December, including a facility in Cork city, the junior health minister has said.

Overall, 230 additional public nursing home beds are expected to have been added to the system this year through various pathways, according to Kieran O’Donnell.

Referring to a public-private partnership (PPP) deal for seven new nursing homes between the HSE and Equisisk, he said five are now open.

This includes new units in Killarney, Midleton and Clonmel.

The deal includes 530 beds, although many of those are replacement beds for older units now being closed down.

“My key focus this year is to get those PPP nursing homes open,” he told the Irish Examiner. “We’ve two with HIQA being registered, and the other five are now in operation.”

New public nursing home beds

Separate to that, the HSE is also expanding the Heather House dementia unit in Cork, which he expects to be completed this year, he added. The expansion had been expected to open last year.

In Laois, a new building is expected to open shortly at the nursing home in Mountmellick.

He estimated that around 600 beds will open in total, but said about 60% of those are replacement beds.

“We really want to drive on, so we will have nine announcements and openings this year of public nursing home facilities,” he said.

Mr O’Donnell was speaking to reporters during the Nursing Homes Ireland conference in Kilkenny.

He also noted the “difficult 18 months” for the sector after an RTÉ Investigates exposé highlighted serious concerns at two Emeis Ireland homes.

“When the issue arose, an independent report was commissioned by HIQA, the Mazars report. We are reviewing it and bringing forward recommendations which I wish to implement as quickly as possible,” he said.

He expects new legislation on safeguarding and other issues to help with this.

“I want to put practical structural measures in place to ensure that the abuse we saw in the RTÉ Investigates programme doesn’t happen again,” he said.

High cost of hospital transport

A video shown during the conference featured older people on the Nursing Homes Ireland residents forum. They spoke about the high cost of private taxi hire to attend hospital appointments.

One woman in Kerry said she can spend €120 on return taxi journeys to the hospital in Tralee. They called for a shuttle bus or transport service to be funded.

Responding to questions about this, Mr O’Donnell said he had met this group already.

“I’m working with them on a range of areas,” he said.

In his speech to the conference, he said the Commission on Care has now submitted its report on the first of three modules in its work.

Module 1 is on the “effectiveness, adequacy and efficiency” of existing services for older people. It began work in early 2024.