Nursing Homes Ireland: Many Recommendations Of Report On Covid Crisis Not Implemented.

The report, published 1 year ago, called for 86 separate actions.

It's claimed many recommendations from the report into the Covid crisis in nursing homes haven't been implemented.

It comes on the one-year anniversary of an expert panel's report, which called for 86 actions to be taken.

Details re the report we commissioned receiving headlines this morning assessing progress of Covid19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel recommendations:
Government stalls in implementing structural reform as Covid Expert Panel recommendations mark one year https://t.co/LrbJ4Sx8OW

— Nursing Homes Ireland (@NursingHomesIre) August 18, 2021

The sector's been badly hit by the pandemic, and over 2,000 nursing home residents have died.

Tadhg Daly is CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland.

Speaking to Clem Ryan on Wednesday's edition of Kildare Today,  says he's deeply disappointed with the lack of action since this time last year

NHI has published a report which it commissioned Accenture to undertake, COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel Impact Assessment. Accenture engaged key stakeholders to assess the structural and sectoral challenges required to deliver upon the recommendations and underpin system wide transformation in care for older persons. It identifies three themes that require State redress and prioritisation if nursing home care is to undertake the transformation required to implement real reform required post Covid19.

• Integration: Covid19 highlighted access to community care services for nursing home residents is inconsistent, fractured and unstructured. An updated integrated model of care is required to ensure nursing home residents have access to community care services that are vital to support their health and social care needs.
• Resourcing: The report identifies over a five-year period from 2015 to 2020 operating costs for nursing homes have risen by 37.6% while Fair Deal Rates have increased by 11.12% over the same period. A model that ensures funding is based on an assessment of resident needs and dependency levels has long been ignored and must be brought into effect to reflect the rising costs to deliver high-quality, person-centred, specialised care in nursing homes.
• Workforce:  The challenge of private and voluntary nursing homes ‘losing’ staff to both the wider healthcare system and other sectors needs to be addressed within a comprehensive nursing home workforce strategy. It needs to concentrate on attracting and retaining staff within gerontological care and to ensure appropriate staffing mixes are maintained to support high quality resident-centric care. Recruitment and retention, education and training, and options for career development within nursing home care urgently require a dedicated strategy.