ALONE welcome investment to upgrade public nursing homes

16th September 2015, Dublin   ALONE has today welcomed the announcement from Minister Kathleen Lynch that €450 million will be allocated for the refurbishment or replacement of state-owned nursing homes and facilities for people with disabilities.

CEO of ALONE, Sean Moynihan said, “ALONE been campaigning about the quality of nursing homes and working to highlight the fact there has been no significant capital investment in public nursing homes for many years.  This announcement of €450 million in funding is a success for HIQA and is a testament to quality auditing, ALONE fully supports this commitment to quality standards.”

Moynihan continued, “Public nursing homes account for only 20% of all nursing homes in the country, it is vital that they are upgraded and supported.  We need diversity and we cannot be entirely reliant on the private sector to deliver care for our vulnerable older people.”

Moynihan concluded, “With an extra 20,000 over 65’s every year we need the government to strategically plan for our ageing population, health care should be a major priority. This investment will be a welcome starting point for the development of more public sector beds.”

“These demographics will put huge pressure on our nursing homes unless alternative models of care are invested in.  Currently over 1/3 of older people in nursing have low to medium support needs and could live at home were they supported to do so. Models such as extra care and supportive housing should be investigated as a priority. We also urge the government to invest more in home care packages and extra care housing for older people, as well as alternative models of care and accommodation.”