Long-term residential care remains a crucial part of the continuum of care for older people and it is vital that the built environment and location of residential care settings support high quality care and positive experiences for our older population.
I therefore committed to creating new design standards for long-term residential care settings for older people (inclusive of the public, private, and voluntary sector), which will articulate best practice in design across the sector and will provide a common benchmark against which standards can be measured. High-quality design, planning, and construction is vital in creating safe environments that enable high quality care. The new design guidelines will apply to the building, extension, and conversion of long-term residential care settings for older people.
This work was progressed by the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Health Service Executive (HSE), and the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). Following the publication of the design guide, the Chief Inspector within HIQA will support those seeking to deliver long-term residential care services for older people by offering a pre-application registration advice process prior to an application for planning permission from a Local Authority.
On 19 December 2023, I announced a new public consultation on the Design Guide for Long-Term Residential Care Settings for Older People, which closed on 15 February 2024. The public consultation allowed the Department of Health to hear the views of a wide range of stakeholders and the feedback received, which is currently under review, will inform the final version of the design guide.
