Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 December 2004
118 Mr. Quinn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the number of public nursing homes and beds in the country; her views on whether there is a need for an inspectorate to be put in place on a statutory basis similar to the private sector; and if it is her intention to establish such an inspectorate. [31581/04]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, figures relating to the number of public nursing homes and beds are collated by my Department on an annual basis. The most recent long-stay activity statistics report was finalised in July 2004 and provides information on activity in long-stay units in 2003. The report shows that there were 12,339 long-stay beds in health board facilities, including respite beds at the 31 December, 2003. This figure represents 51.8% of the long-stay bed complement with the remaining 49.2% of long-stay beds being provided in private/voluntary nursing homes.
Currently, the inspection of private nursing homes is the responsibility of the health boards under the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990. Regulations made under this Act empower health boards to inspect private nursing homes.
In the context of the health reform programme, added emphasis is being placed on the setting and monitoring of standards generally. It is also planned to extend the brief of the social services inspectorate to include residential services for older people and people with a disability and to establish it on a statutory basis. Building on the existing framework for inspections, my Department is satisfied that these additional measures give grounds for added public confidence in the effectiveness of the inspections regime.
