Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending this morning. The presentations were excellent. Each witness made a good case for their budget and I wish them the best in the future.

The Minister, Deputy Reilly, is a firm believer in the policy that money follows the patient. I fully support that. As Deputy Regina Doherty said, it is important that older people stay at home for as long as possible. My question is for Nursing Homes Ireland, NHI. Representatives from the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, appeared before the committee a couple of weeks ago. It is currently organising regulations and inspectors for nursing homes. I was very impressed. They realise a nursing home is a different situation because for the people in a nursing home the nursing home is their home, and it is important that they are looked after and that everything is done correctly. There are currently 22,000 people in nursing homes under the fair deal nursing home system. Are there any vacancies at present? People are always looking for vacancies but they cannot seem to find a place.

Second, I understand there are 23,000 staff employed directly in nursing homes. However, every time I visit a nursing home there are always different staff. Is there a problem retaining staff? People get used to certain staff caring for them but then they disappear. Is there a big turnover of staff?