OFFICIAL CAN’T GUARANTEE ALL NURSING HOMES FOLLOW RULES
A LEADING health official has told a Dáil committee that he cannot guarantee that all nursing homes are following safety regulations designed to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The general secretary of the Department of Health, Jim Breslin (pictured), told the Special Committee on Covid-19 that the rapid spread of the seasonal flu within care homes demonstrates how difficult it is to contain the coronavirus, which is far more infectious.
However, Mr Breslin could not give assurances that all nursing homes are currently in line with regulations set down by the Health Information and Quality Authority, adding that HIQA was ‘currently engaged in an assessment process’ in nursing homes.
Mr Breslin said: ‘Right from the start HIQA reached out and issued guidance and notices to providers about their responsibilities.
‘That is not to say that this is easy. This is a much more infectious virus than the typical flu that we experience and is much more severe in its impact, and yet it is hard to keep flu out of a nursing home during the winter period.’ The virus has run rampant in nursing homes with residents accounting for over half of the 1,561 deaths in Ireland to date. Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd told the committee that a substantial number of nursing homes were found not to be in compliance with HIQA regulations in the past. Mr O’Dowd said: ‘Only 123 out of 581 nursing homes – 31,000 residents – surveyed were found to be compliant with HIQA’s regulations, according to data from August 2019. ‘That percentage of compliance was down from 27% in 2017 to 23% in 2018.’ The deputy demanded that Department of Health officials give assurances that all homes, both public and private, are ‘fully compliant in terms of infection control’. Mr Breslin said he could not give the requested assurances. As of Monday, a total of 843 nursing home residents have died as a result of Covid-19. There have been 258 clusters of the deadly virus in nursing homes, with 4,820 confirmed cases.