Government must follow through on Covid19 commitments for nursing homes 

Fianna Fáil TD for Tipperary Jackie Cahill says promises made by the government and the HSE to deal with the Covid-19 crisis in nursing homes must be rolled out as a matter of urgency.

He expressed concern that some nursing homes are unable to cope with the scale of the demands being placed on them as the public health pandemic worsens.

Deputy Cahill explained, “Nursing homes in Tipperary, and across the country, were ahead of the curve by implementing restrictions on visitors long before the national guidelines were issued.  However, despite the hard work and dedication of staff and management, the situation has deteriorated and now we are seeing clusters of cases and deaths in nursing home and residential care settings.

“My party drew attention to these issues over two weeks ago and new measures including the relocation of staff from other parts of the health service, increased testing and contract tracing were announced.  However, this is still not happening on the scale that it is needed.

“Many nursing homes are operating with skeleton staff numbers, and the issue with insurance indemnity to allow nurses and other care workers from private care settings to work in nursing homes and other public healthcare settings, has still not been resolved.

“Nursing homes have been promised PPE, staff, financial support, rapid testing and contact tracing.  Unfortunately, these commitments have still not fully materialised and nursing home staff are incredibly stressed and frustrated – they want to give their patients the best possible care and ensure that they are protected.  They don’t feel that this is the case at the moment.

“I am calling on government to act, to get the promised supports in place, and to ensure nursing home residents, and their staff, get the supports they need in this time of crisis,” he concluded.