Under the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990, the inspection of private nursing homes is the responsibility of the health boards. Regulations made under that Act empower health boards to inspect private nursing homes. Having made inquiries of the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority, I am satisfied that the nursing home regulations are being implemented. In the majority of health board areas the requirement of two inspections per year is being met. Health boards which are not meeting the requirement have advanced reasons for this, including the following: the two inspections may not have been carried out strictly within a 12-month period but would have been carried out shortly afterwards and the statutory requirement for six-monthly inspections was being met by environmental health officers. However, the requirement for twice-yearly inspections by the medical and nursing inspection teams was not being met in full in the case of all nursing homes. In many instances these nursing homes would be inspected more than twice a year arising from issues identified in routine inspections or where a change occurred relating to registration details.
An additional factor mentioned by one health board was an increase of 130% in the number of nursing homes established in its functional area over the past two years which has put extra pressure on the nursing home inspection team.
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.