Thousands Of Nursing Homes Beds Could Be Closed

Thousands of nursing homes beds could be closed

Thousands of beds at state-run nursing homes could be closed because they do not meet accommodation standards. According to the Irish Times, health watchdog HIQA is introducing a new 'get tough' policy to tackle a lack of progress with long-promised refurbishment and improvements at centres across the country. HIQA has proposed to refuse registration to two centres, with a further 10 facing barring orders on accepting new residents. 36 more centres, meanwhile, must wait for decisions. Professor Shaun O'Keeffe is a consultant geriatrician in Galway. He says the HSE had plenty of warning about the deadline for improvements - and should have acted before now. "The six years is up this July - it's not a surprise, and it certainly shouldn't be a surprise to the HSE, that this is kicking in and that they really had a number of years to bring things up to standard" he said. "Obviously some units don't meet standards - now obviously the most worrying is some places being inadequate for fire standards" he added.