Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cheann Comhairle as a fhocail dúinn ansin. Today's HIQA report paints a worrying picture. It pointed out that, since 2019, 50 nursing homes have closed their doors, causing the loss of more than 1,500 beds at a time when our older population is growing rapidly. This crisis seems to be escalating. We had 14 closures of nursing homes last year alone, which resulted in more than 400 beds being lost from the system. It is not just in the private or community sector. We now have 1,000 fewer public beds than we had a decade ago. Alternative home care options simply do not exist while thousands are on waiting lists. Community and private nursing homes are saying the same thing about rising costs, staffing issues and rising complexity of care making many of their homes unviable. Sinn Féin has proposed to reset the balance, invest in more public capacity, increase funding for hospitals to lease more nursing home beds and to review the fair deal pricing mechanism to recognise the cost of complex care. Some of these providers have blamed Government policy for their closure. What will the Government do to respond to the fact we have seen a drastic reduction in nursing home beds at a time when we need them? Thousands have been lost.

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