Resourcing difficulties have resulted in the Mid-Western Health Board failing in its statutory obligation by only inspecting a third of the nursing homes in the region once every six months. Out of 43 registered nursing homes, 14 were not inspected twice in 2000, according to figures released by the board.
All the homes were inspected once, 26 were inspected twice and three were inspected more than twice, Mr Tom Hourigan, acting assistant chief executive, reported.
He stated that increased demands on medical officers and public health nurses and recruitment difficulties had made the required number of inspections difficult to achieve.
He hoped a regional service could be established to carry out private nursing home registration and inspection. "Six-monthly inspections are normally unscheduled and proprietors have no prior notification," he noted.
Ms Ann Kenny-Ryan, the nurses' representative on the health board, who raised the issue, said she was concerned at the condition of patients coming into the regional hospital from nursing homes.
She added that some of the homes were step-down facilities which could be occupied by hospital patients for a time before final discharge.
Regulations and inspections and the right standards of care were required, she said. Staff were doing the best they could with their resources but staff-patient ratios were an issue.