Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the reports is from a hospital in west Cork where former nursing home residents are residing. I will just quote from some of the report and I will not mention the hospital. The report states:

- The use of multi-occupancy rooms for up to seven residents did not support the receipt of personal care and communication in a manner that protected privacy and dignity.

[...]

One resident had complained that sharing a five bedded room with one en-suite bathroom was difficult. Residents in a six bedded room had taken over the bed spaces of vacant beds to store some of their personal items as they did not have enough space by their own beds.

Why were these community hospitals not brought up to standard? I have spoken to the staff in this hospital. The stress they have been working under has been phenomenal.

They have been let down by the Government, the HSE and someone here because the standards should have been complied with in 2016, as with other community hospitals. They were not complied with, though, which has sadly led to Covid deaths. I am not saying that this is the specific reason, but it very much looks from HIQA's report like there was an issue and standards were not met. They still have not been met and it has cost lives. Why were the standards not applied across these hospitals by the first deadline of 2016?