Nursing homes can relieve A&E crisis

THE Irish Nursing Homes Organisation is relieved at the recent admission by the Tánaiste that the overcrowding crisis in acute hospitals is a national emergency and that all available resources will have to be mobilised.

We have for some time made it known that there is capacity available within the private nursing home sector, which the HSE could utilise to reduce the pressure on overcrowded acute hospitals.

The decision by the HSE's A&E task force to source additional nursing home beds to patients who no longer need acute hospital care is a positive step towards resolving the A&E crisis. At any one time, there are up to 2,000 beds in private nursing homes nationally.

The INHO welcomes the comments that it is unacceptable for elderly patients to be waiting over 24 hours after the decision to admit them has been made, particularly when there are state of the art facilities available for their care in the nursing home sector.

However, the INHO is concerned that the sourcing of additional beds is confined to the east coast. The HSE has admitted that there are currently 15 hospitals in the country with patients waiting for admission in their A&E departments. It is unacceptable that measures to resolve this be confined to one part of the country. The crisis is a national one.

Tadhg Daly

Chief Executive Officer

Irish Nursing Homes Organisation

Centrepoint Business Park

Dublin 12