Ms Mary Dunnion:

The regulations are weak when it comes to staffing. HIQA would very much welcome those regulations being looked at and would be happy to work on and contribute to that discussion. The regulations are very weak. It was stated during the session this morning that HIQA does not allow ratio staffing. That is totally untrue. The staffing levels are determined by the legal entity, namely, the provider of the nursing home, be it private or statutory. In a clinical context, staffing levels are not weighted as highly in a nursing home.

By way of example, the legislation describes "a person in charge of a nursing home", whereas a director of nursing with gerontology would be a much stronger description. There are significant opportunities to look in that context at staffing and we can see the challenges staffing brought during this pandemic.