Gino Kenny demands review of nursing homes after HICPRO findings

Minister, I'm sure you were seriously alarmed at the HICWA report this Tuesday. It gave a terrible insight to the challenges and the failures of nursing homes during this public health emergency. And I understand from the media and the COVID committee that they will recommend a review of all deaths in nursing homes. And I read the report this morning and it's literally damning. It's beyond damning. I mean, once that, and I won't because it's quite a long document, that 60% of the nursing homes that were assessed, they had really weak governance and weak governance management during the public health emergency. So, the alarm bells really, really go off, not only to TDs, but also the residents that are in them nursing homes and the people, their loved ones. So, there has to be an urgent review and hopefully you will support that. Just in relation to nursing homes, Minister, which I spoke about a number of weeks ago, is in relation to St. Meredith's Telford nursing home on the Merrion Road. And I sent you a correspondence two weeks ago in relation to this issue. This is a nursing home that is run by the Sisters of Charity. Some of the residents have been there for over 20 years. And at the end of the year, it's due to close down. Now, I think it's a terrible, terrible shame that this facility has the capacity to close down because the staff are very, very upset in relation to its potential closure. The residents, which are 35 of them, are very, very worried about the situation. So, I want to, if you can, comment on the potential closure of St. Meredith's and give a commitment that, you know, that this facility should be taken over by the state, run by the HSE. It's a great facility. It's been there for over 150 years because if it's closed down, it's closed down for good. So, in this COVID emergency, where there's this juxtaposition of 80% of nursing homes run by private, for-profit companies, and then you have the HICPRO report, and then you have facilities such as St. Meredith's going to close down if the state doesn't intervene. So, you need to intervene, and this should be taken over by the HSE. Thank you. Minister, two minutes. Two minutes. Thank you very much, and I'd like to thank the deputy for raising the points. I've read the HICPRO report very carefully. I understand the deputy's alarm. My reading of the document in terms of the level of compliance is different, and I'm more than happy to talk to the deputy afterwards on this. The report gave a green, which is full compliance, to 90% plus, I think, on the various governance issues. It did identify about 5% or 6% that needed extra work. For me, deputy, we need to make sure that the nursing homes that were graded as yellow are red, so not fully in compliance or not at all in compliance. We need to engage with them really quickly and understand what they need and what HICPA needs to help them get up to speed. For me, the HICPA report raised a serious issue for the House, for government and for the House, which is the lack of a regulatory framework for nursing homes. I think this was one of HICPA's big red flags that it was raising in its report, and that's something that government needs to work on. I'm certainly working on, and it will be a matter for this House to debate and, I imagine, pass primary legislation on. But I absolutely take the deputy's point, and I wrote to HICPA last week to ask that the same review and a thematic review be done for the nursing homes that were not included. So the nursing homes that were included in the HICPA report are the ones that haven't had COVID in them. We obviously need the same assessment done for the other half, which are the ones that have had COVID in them. With regard to nursing homes, the deputy understand I can't comment specifically to an individual nursing home, but I'm very happy to look into it. I have recently been made aware of two residential centres in Dublin who, unfortunately, have notified the HSE that they are no longer in a position to continue to operate. I'm acutely aware of the value of residential care, and the HSE is in the process of engaging with these services to ensure continuity of care for the residents. Thank you.