Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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626. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the reduction in numbers of community care beds including step-down facilities, long-term care beds, and nursing home beds since the current Government has taken office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1198/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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HSE residential facilities have faced and continue to face significant challenges in recent times. Because of their size, physical environment and age it became clear that many public facilities did not meet standards that we expect from a modern nursing home. The recent staff moratorium also posed a significant challenge for community nursing units, and long stay capacity reduced in recent years by about 1,400, with short stay beds falling by about 100.

There are currently 119 public residential units providing a mixture of long-stay and short-stay residential care. All of there are registered with the Health Information and Quality Authority, which sets and monitors standards in residential facilities. The HSE provides a further 10 units that provide short stay beds only. Together these units are providing 5,290 long stay beds and 1,860 short stay beds.

The Government is committed to the provision of a quality public nursing home service underpinned by a regulatory system of registration and inspection, and the Department of Health, in collaboration with the HSE, is considering how this can best be achieved within the funding that is available.