Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Fourth Progress Report on the Implementation of the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel Recommendations was published in June 2022. The report highlighted the important progress that had already taken place across a number of areas and set out the structures and processes that have been established to ensure continued implementation. It also highlighted that the majority of short- and medium-term recommendations which were aimed at safeguarding people living in nursing homes against the COVID-19 virus had already been implemented and mainstreamed into normal operations.

Since then, significant progress has also been made on progressing medium- and longer-term reform recommendations in the following areas:

• The Patient Advocacy Services was extended to private nursing homes from 1^stNovember 2022.
• Revised Regulations were signed in December 2022 to enhance and streamline complaints processes. These came into effect on the 1^stMarch 2023.
• The results of the first Nursing Homes Care Experience survey were published in November 2022.
• Work is advancing on the development of a Safe Staffing & Skillmix Framework for the sector.
• New palliative and end-of-life programme for nursing homes was launched in 2022.
• General Scheme of a Bill was published in October 2022 to give the regulator (HIQA) further powers, including in relation to enforcement and data collection.
• New dedicated IPC and Safeguarding Specialist Capacities for nursing homes have been established across the 9 CHOs and recruitment is ongoing.
• Recruitment has also commenced for Community Support Teams with 44% of recruitment completed for phase 1 implementation.
• Over 100 places funded on postgraduate gerontological nursing training courses for the academic year 2022/2023.
• The Patient Safety Bill has been signed into law in May 2023 providing the Chief Inspector in HIQA with investigation powers for serious incidents in nursing homes.

While it is accepted that this broad programme of wide-ranging and complex reform will take time to implement, the Government is committed to the implementation of the Expert Panel recommendations. Funding has been put in place in 2023 for the continued implementation and mainstreaming of a range of Expert Panel recommendations, including the establishment of permanent Community Support Teams, the piloting of Clinical Governance Oversight committees and the development of a Safe Staffing Framework for the sector.

In addition, the Programme for Government (2020) commits to the establishment of a Commission on Care that will assess how we care for older people and examine alternatives to meet the diverse needs of our older citizens, learning the lessons from COVID-19. The Department of Health has responsibility for fulfilling this commitment. The scoping of, and planning for, the commission is being advanced as a priority in 2023.

Please find attached the status of the NHEP recommendations in tabular form as requested.

	Summary Table
	Recommendations	86	%
	Complete	55	64%
	Work in Progress	26	30%
	Commission on care	5	6%