Nursing homes in the public and private sector are taking part in a pilot project aimed at improving standards of care and accommodation.
The results may feed into plans for legislation providing for mandatory minimum care standards for nursing homes which is due to be published by Minister for Health Mary Harney later this year.
Concerns have been expressed by health professionals and social workers over vague standards of care which have resulted in difficulties prosecuting nursing homes which fail to deliver adequate services.
The 10-month pilot project got under way last month and involves eight nursing homes, six in the public sector and two in the private sector.
The nursing homes are taking part on a voluntary basis and assess themselves against broad standards of excellence on a five-point ratings scale.
The Irish Health Services Accreditation Board, which is co-ordinating the pilot project, said there were plans to extend it nationwide from January 2005.
The board's chief executive, Roísín Boland, said a similar scheme has been operating successfully for hospitals in the acute sector.
"The standards are based on international experience. This framework of quality of safety in healthcare is being used quite widely around the world and supports a patient's journey through the care system," Ms Boland said.
Paul Costello, chief executive of the Irish Nursing Homes Organisation, said existing regulations regarding standards of care needed to be overhauled.
"The regulations are loose, very subjective and wide open to differing interpretation. They talk about 'adequate staffing levels' and are purposefully stated to avoid any responsibility on the part of the Health Service Executive to pay up for what needs to be put into the system," Mr Costello said.
The regulations made under the 1990 legislation make general requirements about "appropriate", "adequate" and "reasonable" standards.
A spokesman for Ms Harney said the need for high standards in public and private nursing homes had emerged as an important theme in a wide-ranging review of issues relating to care for older people.
It is intended to include the necessary legislative provisions in the Health Information and Quality Authority Bill due to be published later this year, the spokesman added.
Mr Costello said that while standards would help improve overall standards in the sector, this could not be achieve without an increase in State funding or subvention for patients who cannot afford the full cost of private nursing home care.
He said staffing levels in nursing homes in Ireland typically result in around 2½ hours of personal care per resident. If the Government was to follow plans in the US to provide a minimum of four hours personal care it would result in weekly nursing home costs rising from an average of €600 to €1,200.
Age Action Ireland welcomed plans for new standards in the nursing home sector. The group's head of communications, Paul Murray, said: "If we have a star rating system for hotels, surely it's more important that we have something similar for frail older people."
