HEALTH Minister Mary Harney warned yesterday it could become “impossible” to set up nursing homes in Dublin with the high price being demanded for land.
Ms Harney was responding to a report on private nursing homes, which revealed that while an extra 1,068 nursing home beds were opened last year, 531 were closed, primarily in smaller and older homes.
Ms Harney also revealed that she is in discussions with her Government partner and Environment Minster John Gormley in looking at the constitutionality of the laws governing the zoning of land. Click Here!
She warned the issue “badly needed” to be addressed, especially so families and partners could visit their loved ones in nearby facilities.
She said no matter what tax incentives were in place for investors, these could not make up for the high cost of land.
“There will come a day if we don’t address it where it will be impossible to obtain a nursing home facility in this city.”
Afterwards, she added: “There are huge profits people can make from residential, industrial or commercial developments. Nobody could ever make that money from health provision whether they’re in the private sector or not.”
She said many developments in health were therefore away from where large populations were based.
“That’s something of concern to me,” she said, adding that the same matter was making it difficult for the Department of Education to purchase schools.
A possible solution could be in how a local authority zoned land, she suggested.
“It’s as important for an older person to remain in their own community or as close as possible to their own community as it is for a child to have a chance to go to school in their own community.”
The report on nursing homes also found that almost half of the near 19,000 private facilities are in receipt of taxpayer subsidies for residents. Furthermore, despite an overall increase in homes in recent years, planning for new ones slowed last year.
The report’s author, Brian McEnery, warned tax incentives for nursing home developers were insufficient.
The average length of stay for a resident is 3.7 years, said Nursing Homes Ireland, the new representative group for the sector.
Yesterday’s survey revealed 82% of residents are 76 years of age or older.
Ms Harney said many public homes still operating were more than 20 years old. It was not uncommon to visit “Florence Nightingale type facilities” but these would become obsolete under new standards, she said.
Irish Examiner
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