A consultant geriatrician says the HSE missed an opportunity to take over the private nursing homes that closed in recent years.
An ESRI report has found 336 nursing home beds have been lost since the start of the pandemic, and has highlighted the growing reliance on private nursing homes.
Nursing Homes Ireland is warning the entire sector is under threat due the State's failure to recognise the need for increased funding.
Speaking to RedFM News, Dr. Des O'Neill says the Department of Health has not paid enough attention to the nursing home sector:
"Instead of creating a framework of what we should have in nursing homes, into this vacuum has come in large, private operators, making huge barrack like institutions. The most worrying part of the report is the loss of the 'public beds'. One of the Sláintecare recommendations was belatedly to recognise that we've left the field far too much to the profit and private sector".
