Private nursing homes have criticised the increased costs associated with meeting new nursing home standards and have claimed that some homes may be forced to close.
Nursing Homes Ireland, which represents private nursing homes, said its survey found that its members had spent €77,872 per home to comply with the new standards.
The national quality standards were introduced by the Health Information and Quality Authority's (Hiqa) last year, as part of its nursing home registration and inspection regime.
Tadhg Daly, chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland, said a number of nursing homes had indicated that they would be closing "as the cost of compliance with the new standards cannot be met by them". He also criticised the different in rates paid by the Health Service Executive to private nursing homes and public homes under the Fair Deal nursing home support scheme.
Nursing Homes Ireland commissioned Horwath Bastow Charleton to survey private nursing homes earlier this year. The survey found that staff costs had increased by 10 per cent since the last survey was conducted in 2007 while spending on food had risen by 12 per cent.
