Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
691. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the date on which his Department received the HIQA report containing a list of nursing homes which it was of the view might struggle with the Covid-19 crisis; the actions taken on foot of this; if direct contact was made with these residential settings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9327/20]
View answerOn 13th March HIQA provided the Department with a list of 19 HSE/HSE funded nursing homes identifying that as these had multi-occupancy rooms this created infection prevention risk. This information was sent by the Department on the same day to the HSE for their attention and the HSE has confirmed on-going risk management of these centres.
On 29th and 30th of March key officials from the Department, HIQA, HPSC and HSE met to discuss nursing homes. It was agreed that representatives from the Department, HIQA, HSE and HSPC would collaborate to prepare a paper, encompassing a framework of necessary information, for consideration by the NPHET at its meeting of 31st March on the specific issues and risks relating to COVID-19 infections in residential healthcare facilities. To inform the development of the paper, HIQA provided an information framework document to the team on March 30th. A variety of potential risks were identified. These included the risk of small providers, access to infection prevention and control (IPC) advice, access to PPE and timely access to testing. Following consideration of the paper referred to at the above NPHET meeting of 31st March, NPHET requested HIQA to risk assess all nursing homes and liaise with relevant national and regional governance structures as necessary in light of mitigating actions. This was part of an overall package of public health measures recommended following this meeting.
At the NPHET meeting 17th April an action was agreed that ‘HIQA publishes and assesses a COVID-19 Quality Assurance Regulatory Framework’. This Framework has been designed to ensure that providers are prepared for, and have contingency plans in place for, an outbreak of COVID-19. As part of the programme HIQA has developed a self-assessment tool for nursing home providers. This self-assessment tool sets out the minimum standard required to effectively respond to an outbreak of COVID-19 in a designated centre. This involves a self-assessment by the registered provider and an onsite assessment by inspectors of social services to verify the provider’s compliance against specified regulations.
If further action is required by the registered provider to ensure compliance with the specified regulations, a compliance plan will be issued to the registered provider by the inspector of social services following the in-site assessment.
