Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Nelson Mandela once said that "A society that does not value its older people denies its roots and endangers its future". This Government has well and truly endangered our society’s future by its failure to implement proper safeguards. Our older people have suffered disproportionately during this pandemic. More than 2,000 residents of nursing homes have died due to Covid-19, accounting for more than 40% of Covid-19-related deaths in this State. We need a full public inquiry into the deaths of residents and the quality of care provided in nursing homes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The systemic failures in the sector must be addressed immediately.

Many concerns were raised by nursing home representatives concerning the testing protocols and procedures in respect of discharging hospital patients to care facilities. Those concerns fell on deaf ears. Concerns were also expressed about staffing levels and the ability to comply with regulations. Reaction to these concerns was slow. This is not good enough. If Sinn Féin was in government, we would have extended the temporary assistance scheme which provided supports for nursing homes to enable them to ensure that the right precautions were in place. This Government has ignored our calls to extend this scheme. It is wrong for the Government to put nursing homes again in a disadvantaged position. This is a vital support scheme to deliver public health recommended measures and its removal is a kick in the teeth for the sector.

It is high time that the Government got serious about the response to Covid-19. We must see a less reactive and much more proactive approach to this response. The approach taken by the Government concerning visits to nursing homes must recognise that we are dealing with real people. As I have said here before, loneliness is a killer. It is associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide. Loneliness among heart failure patients was associated with a risk of death that was four times higher, a risk of hospitalisation that was 68% higher and a risk of visits to accident and emergency departments that rose by 58%. Our older people have given the State much service and we must do better in repaying them.

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