Madam, – The original policy decision to establish a regulatory framework for nursing homes incorporating care standards and independent inspection by Hiqa was, and remains, a good decision. As Prof Desmond O’Neill reminds us (Opinion, October 13th), the core aim of the framework is the protection of our most frail and disabled older people.
It is clear that the implementation of national policy on nursing home regulation is a challenge for many of the interests involved. Dilution of the regulatory framework is not a solution to the issues emerging: ie, closure of public nursing homes, scope of contracts between National Treatment Purchase Fund and private nursing homes and costs of care. Rather the solution rests with the planning and development of Ireland’s system of residential nursing home care under the leadership of the Department of Health and the HSE so that it meets the standards of excellence set out in the Hiqa standards.
We have the evidence of two reviews of Leas Cross Nursing Home, one authored by Prof O’Neill, to demonstrate powerfully to us how nursing home care can fail vulnerable older people in the absence of a regulatory framework combining care standards and independent inspection. The policy we adopted in 2009 is worth sticking with, if, as a society, we genuinely want to secure the safety and wellbeing of nursing home residents now and in years to come. – Yours, etc,