Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2023
821. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health if any warning letters were issued by the HSE or HIQA outlining concern on failures to comply with regulations issued to nursing homes in April 2020; if so, how many; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24775/23]
View answerThe Chief Inspector of Social Care and the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) is the national independent regulator of Public Community Nursing Units and Private Nursing Homes. All these homes are subject to registration and inspection by HIQA, which is underpinned by a comprehensive quality framework comprising Registration Regulations, Care and Welfare Regulations and National Quality Standards. In 2022 HIQA published an overview report on the monitoring and regulation of older persons services in 2020 and 2021. This report is available www.hiqa.ie. This provides an overview of the findings of the regulation of designated centres for older people throughout 2020 and 2021 by the Chief Inspector of Social Services. HIQA has advised my Department that between 1 April 2020 and 30 April 2020, HIQA did not issue any warning letters to nursing homes. At that time, the country, including nursing homes, were in the very early stages of managing the impact of COVID-19. The regulatory focus during that unprecedented time was in relation to the management on COVID-19.
