Dáil debates

Wednesday, 24 June 2020

Emergency Bed Capacity: Statements

 

7:55 pm

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. By way of assurance I should say that very strict protocols have been agreed in respect of both admissions to and discharges from long-term residential care facilities for the reasons Deputy Smyth mentions, namely, infection control and the need to prevent clusters from re-emerging in nursing homes that have thankfully now been Covid-19-free for a significant period of time. More than 190 nursing homes that had an outbreak of Covid-19 are now Covid-19-free, which means they have not had a Covid-19 case for 28 days or more.

I find myself agreeing with Deputy Smyth on this. The answer has to be broader than just moving a patient from the nursing home to the hospital and from the hospital to the nursing home. We have to address the massive gaping hole in healthcare policy in this country, which is a statutory home care scheme. Everybody says they are in favour of it but nobody in here has ever bothered passing a law to implement it. It is in the draft programme for Government and work is ongoing in my Department to deliver it. Passing that quickly should be a priority for a new Government so that we can provide the kind of additional supports to the community that Deputy Smyth suggests.

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