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2004

Plan for Nursing Home Inspectorate welcome - SIPTU

Date Released: 13 Dec 2004

The Minister for Health's proposal to establish a Nursing Home Inspectorate, with statutory powers to inspect both public and private nursing homes has been welcomed by SIPTU's Dublin Health Services Branch Secretary, Paul Bell.

"It is crucial", he said, "that the inspectorate commence work as soon as possible in the new year. However, with some 26,000 older persons, in the care of nursing homes, it is imperative that the existing clauses dealing with standards of care in the 1990 Home Care Act be amended in order to ensure that such issues as patient staff ratios and staff training are brought to a uniform national standard. While the 1993 regulations currently in force insist that nursing homes be inspected at least twice a year, these inspections are not sufficient in themselves since there is no recognised national benchmark to measure healthcare standards in the private nursing home sector."

Mr. Bell also expressed dissatisfaction with the varying practices in pay and conditions for all grades of staff within the private nursing home sector. "It is impossible to believe that many staff in the private nursing are expected to exist on minimum wage rates of pay with no premiums for unsocial hours, either at night or on Sundays. National pay awards have not been implemented in many cases. With this in view, we will meet the Minister and her officials shortly as this difficult situation has recently been compounded by the actions of the Eastern Regional Health Authority and other health boards in unilaterally reducing the subvention paid for the care of those entering private nursing homes from the public list from €760 to €680. This decision is having a major impact on staff retention, as other health service providers are offering more attractive packages."

Mr. Bell added that SIPTU intended to present a proposal to the Minister, to establish a mechanism, to address the pay and conditions of workers in this sector. "This mechanism would also involve the public health service playing a full role in ensuring that a high standard of health care is delivered in the interest of the public," he said.





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