17 beds at a Cork nursing home remain closed due to ‘HIQA paperwork', local politician claims
Cllr Danny Collins put forward a motion at this week's meeting of the West Cork Municipal District calling on Cork County Council to write to HIQA to reopen the closed beds at Aperee Living Nursing Home in Seafield, Bantry.
A receiver was appointed to the nursing home in July last year and it was one of five nursing homes operated by the Aperee Living group in Cork, Galway and Kilkenny put up for sale last autumn.
Aperee Living was under pressure to meet regulatory standards at a number of its properties, leading to the closure of some and the HSE taking over the running of others.
A HIQA report based on inspections carried out last year found the Bantry nursing home non-compliant in the areas of fire precautions, governance and management, and statement of purpose.
Cllr Collins told the Irish Independent that the receiver has dealt with those issues and now it's up to HIQA to sign off on them to allow the empty beds to be opened to patients.
'So basically what happened here from day one is that HIQA has been dragging their heels to be quite honest. It's been going on for seven to eight months. The receiver did all the work that had to be done, they were finished by Christmas. And everything was passed by fire officers. And now it's just paperwork really. That's what's holding it up.'
The Independent Ireland Councillor said the issue is exacerbating the shortage of nursing home beds in West Cork.
'At the moment we have 24 residents staying there, but there's 17 empty beds. A week hardly passes without either I or [West Cork TD] Michael Collins' office getting one or two people looking for beds,' he told this newspaper.
Cllr Collins spoke of an elderly man who has to travel from West Cork to a nursing home in Kenmare to see his wife because there isn't a place available closer to home. 'It's a long journey for him to do, but if she was living in Bantry, he could call to her every morning or every evening.'
The Bantry Councillor said he understands there is a buyer interested in buying the Seafield nursing home, but 'he's not going to buy unless everything is signed off. The ball is in HIQA's court. This could be all sorted out if they sat down around the table.'
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
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