Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 10 September 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Examination of HIQA Report on the Impact of Covid-19 on Nursing Homes in Ireland

Photo of Michael CollinsMichael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I start by thanking the staff of nursing homes in west Cork. To the best of my knowledge they have been free of Covid-19, which has been a great relief to the families of residents. I refer also to community hospitals. Fabulous work is going on there in difficult times. Great thanks and praise are due for that.

I would like to ask the witnesses several questions and give them a chance to reply. Why did HIQA not raise the issue of nursing homes with NPHET? One member of NPHET states that the team's minutes show a member of HIQA to have been present for the first mention of nursing homes in March. It seems to me that HIQA did not have a plan for this pandemic. Perhaps the witnesses will correct me and say that it did. I would like to know what plan was in place at that early stage when the country knew it was facing something very serious.

I note that the issue of community hospitals was raised during a previous hearing on 26 May. The question of why they were not brought up to standard was asked. I am not allowed to mention a certain community hospital in west Cork but I have looked at the HIQA reports. For quite some time HIQA reports have referred to very serious issues in this hospital - not pertaining to staff, but to the hospital building. This was outside the remit of those working in the hospital, but it was within the remit of the HSE to bring the hospital up to standard. This was not done, which put the staff under phenomenal pressure. Why were standards not upheld throughout these hospitals by the time of the first deadline in 2016? Why has HIQA waited until 2020 to challenge the HSE in respect of the physical environment standards and the need to implement legislation equitably for all providers?

Why has HIQA continued to allow the HSE to operate in substandard accommodation in breach of care and welfare regulations? I regularly visit hospitals with meticulous standards. I know of many examples throughout west Cork. However, I ask this question because some hospitals were in breach of HIQA's regulations for many years and nothing happened. Why has HIQA allowed the HSE to operate in that substandard way?