Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I hope the Minister of State will be able to shed some light on what is happening with Lucan Lodge Nursing Home. There is a lot of uncertainty about its future. The 73 residents and 85 staff have been told recently that the nursing home might close down. This is having an effect on the relatives of the residents. There is a great deal of stress about what is happening.

I understand the HSE has taken charge of the running of the facility because the operator of the home, Passage Healthcare, has gone into liquidation. The residents, staff and the relatives want to know what is the future of the nursing home. There is a great deal of stress and uncertainty over whether it will close down. I hope it will not and the HSE will come up with solutions to keep the facility open.

There are a number of possible scenarios. A new operator might run the facility or the HSE could directly intervene and run it, which is probably the best solution. As we have seen, 80% of all nursing homes are privately operated for profit rather than the common good. The operator can no longer run this nursing home. There have been issues with fire regulations in Lucan Lodge Nursing Home and another facility Passage Healthcare operated in Tallaght, Sally Park Nursing Home. These issues caused enormous inconvenience to residents in Sally Park and are now causing great inconvenience to the residents in Lucan Lodge. It is important that residents are given some sort of assurance about the future of the nursing home. Hopefully, a solution can be found to keep it open and the residents in place.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this issue. I remain deeply concerned to learn that HIQA had to cancel the registration of Lucan Lodge Nursing Home. The focus at this time is ensuring the welfare of the 70 residents in this private nursing home during this difficult time.

Lucan Lodge Nursing Home is situated in a residential area in Lucan. The provider was registered as a designated centre under the Health Act 2007 to provide for the care of up to 74 residents over 18 years, male and female, with 24-hour nursing care available.

The designated centre is a residential care setting operated, as the Deputy said, by Passage Healthcare International (Ireland) Limited. Passage Healthcare also operated Sally Park Nursing Home in Firhouse. Sally Park was deregistered in February 2024 due to non-compliance with regulations in several areas, in particular in relation to aspects of fire safety. Passage Healthcare had been in examinership, but my understanding is that the receiver has removed the protection of examinership and a liquidator will be appointed.

HIQA inspections at Lucan Lodge have uncovered significant issues, including that the registered provider did not ensure a safe and appropriate premises was provided in line with its conditions of registration and did not ensure that the centre was appropriately resourced to ensure appropriate care delivery in line with residents' assessed needs. That is one of the issues that we must look at. Anyone can google the previous HIQA report on Lucan Lodge, which set out very many concerns. HIQA informed me, as Minister of State, and the HSE last Thursday that it would have to deregister the facility. It happened as quickly as that. It also informed the provider. It is complicated by the fact the provider does not own the premises, which is leased from a third party. This is something we see a lot.

The chief inspector of HIQA has taken action to cancel the registration of Lucan Lodge Nursing Home as a care provider with effect from 10 a.m. last Friday. The HSE, liaising with Lucan Lodge Nursing Home, HIQA and the staff, took interim charge of the nursing home effective from 10.01 a.m. that day. HSE staff have completed an initial assessment process on the clinical care of residents. The HSE will act as the interim registered provider to support residents and their families during this time.

On Tuesday, I met with the new regional health organiser for the area in question and the chief officer who is still in place in the area to discuss the nursing home. I have written to the HSE asking it to explore all options because 74 beds is a large number of long-term residential care beds to lose from any particular area. We are not even a week into the situation. I also spoke to the member of staff from the HSE who is on-site. Since Tuesday, she has been communicating with families to try to reassure them that the HSE is on-site and that the best care will be provided to the residents. It is also supporting the staff. I am open to correction but the details I have been given indicate that a minimum of 25 of the staff are from outside the EU and have permits associated with Lucan Lodge Nursing Home. There are a lot of complicating factors here. I am keeping a very close eye on the matter.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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This is a set of extraordinary circumstances. Googling this operator, it claims to be a multibillion dollar health provider in the United States. It is not some makeshift provider by any means. It has enormous assets behind it. Alarm bells are ringing about its very rudimentary fire compliance both in Sally Park and Lucan Lodge nursing homes. There are very serious questions to be asked of the provider.

The residents are at the heart of this. Some have been in the nursing home for a considerable period and some are receiving end-of-life care. This is extremely sensitive. I hope a solution can be found to keep Lucan Lodge open.

I got an email 20 minutes ago from the owner of Lucan Lodge stating they have written to the HSE. They want the facility to be kept open for the residents. They have written to the HSE setting out what needs to be done to keep the home open. That is important. What we do not want is for Lucan Lodge to close because it would have a detrimental effect on everyone involved.

There are two possible solutions. One is that a new operator is found and the other is that the HSE directly intervenes and either buys the home or runs it directly to keep the residents and staff in place. As the Minister of State said, there are other complications in relation to the staff.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is right that this is a complicated issue. It is an evolving situation. As I mentioned, all options are being explored. I wrote to the HSE last Friday and asked it to explore all options. Regular engagements are taking place between the Department of Health, the HSE and HIQA. Before this nursing home is registered again, only one organisation can register it and it will only register a facility when it is fit for purpose and all issues have been addressed. HIQA does not like having to withdraw authorisation from any facility.

It does not like doing that. When HIQA issues reports, they are very clear. It will work with any provider to form a plan and a timeline regarding the concerns it has raised. Unfortunately, last week it had to take the position that it could no longer register the facility due to health and safety issues.

I also want to put the following on the record. I often say in this Chamber that the HSE has statutory responsibility as the provider of last resort. I am often criticised for saying that by private nursing homes but that is the fact. When something goes wrong, the HSE will always have to step in and it will have to be staffed accordingly. That is what it is doing at the moment. It did not even have 24 hours’ notice in this case but it is there and is working with the staff in place. It is working with the families, the residents and the staff. The Department of Health, the HSE and HIQA are all working together, as well as, I hope, the provider. That is my understanding. It is evolving and I will keep the Deputy updated. We are very early into this - it has currently been six days. My primary focus is for the residents to be looked after and personally I would like to see a long-term solution and not lose the 74 beds.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the Minister of State.