Give teeth to nursing homes watchdog
The inspectorate must be backed up by legislation and regulations, report directly to the Department of Health and Children and produce an annual report.
It should cover the private, public and voluntary sectors. Inspection teams should include social work and occupational therapy alongside nursing and medicine, so as to ensure a holistic approach to the inspection process.
Access to the residents themselves should be a fundamental part of any future inspection process.
Given the heavy cutbacks in public residential care, there has been an increasing reliance on the private sector to make up the shortfall.
The vast majority of these homes provide excellent care. However, when there is failure, such as that highlighted recently, the lack of public bed capacity in the system means that the Health Services Executive is immediately compromised by a conflict of interest between enforcing the meagre regulations currently existing and the need to maintain bed numbers.
Therefore, it is essential that the Government also provides appropriately resourced services for older people to ensure that the proposed inspectorate can avoid compromise and move quickly if and when concerns arise.
John Brennan
Chairperson
Special Interest Group on Ageing
Irish Association of Social Workers
114-116 Pearse Street
Dublin 2
