The Department of Health takes the closures of nursing homes very seriously. The closure of nursing homes can put pressure on other local health and social care facilities. It is vital that the welfare of residents is ensured. There are several reasons for nursing home closures each year including retirement, non-compliance with HIQA regulations, financial viability and, in some cases, recognition that the premises would not be compliant with revised regulations.
Ensuring the welfare and safety of residents is secured when nursing homes close is the most important thing and work to alleviate the concerns of residents and their families must continue.
There is a legal requirement of providers that they must give at least six months' advance notice to the Chief Inspector of their intention to cease the operation of the nursing home and to close, but they are not required to advise of their future plans for the centre following closure. This provides residents, families and public health authorities appropriate time to respond effectively.
To date in 2023, nine nursing homes have closed. Of these:
• Four notified the Chief Inspector in 2022 of their intention to close but did not close until this year.
• Five notified the Chief Inspector in 2023 of their intention to close.
An additional four nursing homes have also notified the Chief Inspector of their intention to close this year.
In 2022, registered providers of twelve nursing homes, following appropriate notification to the Chief Inspector, closed their nursing homes.
In 2021, registered providers of four nursing homes, following appropriate notification to the Chief Inspector, closed their nursing homes.
In 2020, registered providers of seventeen nursing homes, following appropriate notification to the Chief Inspector, closed their nursing homes.
In 2022 I introduced a change to the procurement guidelines around accommodation for persons under temporary protection in order to remove from consideration active nursing homes that were still registered operators with HIQA on or after the date of 1 September 2022. Up to this point 7 former nursing homes had been contracted under the procurement guidelines and 5 other former nursing homes were contracted after that date, there were no further additions after November 2022.
The Department of Health's policy position in respect of the use of former nursing homes to accommodate beneficiaries of temporary protection was reviewed at the end of April this year and a more flexible approach adopted to allow the conversion of nursing homes into accommodation centres for international protection applicants and/or beneficiaries of temporary protection after 18 months following deregistration from the Health Information and Quality Agency Chief Inspector’s register.
This period is intended to allow for an appropriate closure process for residents and staff of nursing homes, while also preventing facilities from being empty indefinitely where they might provide at a future date following closure a source of accommodation for international protection applicants and/or beneficiaries of temporary protection.
The Department of Health currently has no plans to review this policy position further.
