Professor Cillian Twomey:

That is not something we have been particularly involved with or engaged in. We have to go back a step. Many overseas workers in residential care settings have working conditions that are inferior to those of colleagues working in other residential care settings. This in turn forces them to work in several settings at the same time. These hard-working staff very often live together and share accommodation with seven, eight or nine people. The danger with regard to Covid, and this is a serious issue, is the transmissibility potential that can occur. We have outlined that even agency staff should be assigned to a single nursing home and not work in several at the same time. It is a dangerous position in the current climate. The employment conditions of some staff in some nursing homes are a cause for concern. Certainly it was reported to our group that it is a major concern that needs to be addressed.

I also want to make the point that the care provided in public and private nursing homes is, by and large, of a very high quality. The staff are unbelievable. Residents have expressed this in the commentary submitted to us. In one of the nursing institutions I visited I met a staff member who had contracted Covid and had to take time off work. She felt very guilty about this fact and was very distressed because she knew that her being off meant the nursing home was down a whole-time equivalent. This was hugely devastating for her. I met her when she had just returned from her time off. She was much better health wise though not fully energised but she still felt guilty that she had to be off work because of her illness when she knew the nursing home required her assistance. In some instances, nursing homes were down many staff. We cannot overstate the devastation for the residents who died and their families but also for the staff during the peak period of deaths from mid-March through early April. It was hugely devastating. If any incentive is required to concentrate on implementing these measures it should be a reminder that we cannot go back to that.