Nursing Home Closures

Nursing homes from across Ireland have signed an open letter to the Taoiseach calling for an intervention to address the cost crisis for nursing homes and to stem the continued closures that have been a highlight in the past year.

The letter warns that more closures are inevitable without urgent Government intervention and that the sector is in a state of distress. It highlights the discrimination applied by the state against residents in private and voluntary nursing home care.

This is borne out by the government-commissioned and published A Value for Money Review of Nursing Home Care Costs document. The 73% differential in spend between residents in HSE and private or voluntary nursing homes, another key finding within the report, is also highlighted to the government and the general public within the letter.

17 nursing homes have been forced to close their doors in 2022, resulting in 489 residents losing their homes and over 600 people their jobs.

Tadhg Daly, NHI CEO, stated: “This open letter to An Taoiseach and government is an unprecedented measure being undertaken by our sector. The extent of the anger of the treatment of the private and voluntary nursing home sector by the state was seismic at a recent EGM hosted by our organisation. We’ve never encountered the amount of closures before or the extremity of the cost pressures that are presenting for nursing homes within this exceptional cost environment. Nursing homes need their voices to be heard and need government to take immediate action to respond to this crisis. The loss of nursing homes and their beds has very serious implications for care in the community. The regulator HIQA has publicly stated concerns regarding the loss of nursing homes within our communities and for our health and social care services but these have not been addressed. We are calling on the government to avert what has happened the past year as we move into 2023.”

The collective nursing homes are calling for introduction of a fit-for-purpose stabilisation fund to address inflationary pressures and for reform of Fair Deal to be prioritised to make fees payable compatible with the reality of residents’ care needs.