Private nursing homes are struggling to make ends meet according to a new report in which it was found that operational costs have risen 37% compared to estimates from 2017.
The report published by the PwC has led to increased fears of further closure of private care homes after 31 closures resulting in the loss of 915 beds took place last year.
While in 2021 19% of nursing homes reported operational losses this figure has jumped to 33%.
Nursing Homes Ireland CEO Tadhg Daly said, “We commissioned this independent report to inform regarding the unprecedented crisis our sector is currently going through.”
“Its findings present an uncertain future for the care of our ageing population and our sector,” he said
Daly continued that the findings of the report “must serve as a further wake-up call for Government,” describing the numbers as “a chasm between expenditure incurred and income received under Fair Deal.”
Increasingly complicated patient care needs were cited as one of the driving factors behind the losses while other causes were attributed to costs related to infection control, inflation and industry-wide staffing shortages.
The Beaumont Residential Care in county Cork announced that it would exit the Fair Deal Scheme leading family members to hold a protest outside the offices of Tánaiste Micheál Martin.
Exiting the scheme will reportedly leave residents with no choice but to vacate the home or pay €1,300 a week in fees.
While the nursing home said it had been “forced by the actions and inactions of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF)” to leave the scheme family and friends of the 56 residents availing of Fair Deal expressed concern over the future of their elderly loved ones.
Anne Rogers who has a relative in the home said, “We don’t know what will happen or where our relatives will end up,”
“Nobody is negotiating with CareChoice.” she said, adding that this was the reason for the protest.
Despite reports that all nursing homes were profitable just six years ago, Nursing Homes Ireland has warned that if steps are not taken to boost funding for private care homes more closures will follow leaving increasing numbers of residents and their relatives in difficult situations.
Last year NHI called an emergency meeting calling on Táiniste Micheál Martin to intervene to avert the “emergency situation” facing nursing home care providers saying it was bitterly disappointed with a funding package announced to tackle increased costs.
The national representative body for the private and voluntary nursing homes sector in Ireland had claimed that the sector had been abandoned by the Government.
At the time Daly referred to the situation as “the most severe crisis for private and voluntary nursing homes”.
“An emergency situation presents,” he said
Last August, it was reported that Junior Minister Mary Butler, who has special responsibility for older people, held an “emergency meeting” with her Department officials because private nursing homes were closing in order to switch to accommodating Ukrainian refugees.
The Minister’s local radio station, WLR reported that the Junior Minister was concerned that this was happening “even where the nursing home [was] a viable business”.