Two nursing homes in Waterford will be shutting their doors next month.
HIQA were informed on Monday that Rockshire Care Home in Ferrybank and Maypark House Nursing Home near Waterford University Hospital will be closing in September.
They are both owned by the Dwyer family and have been operating for over 40 years.
In a statement to WLR News today, the family say they made the difficult decision to close due to HIQA's "unrealistic expectations of small nursing homes".
They also say the National Treatment Purchase Fund has been unwilling to negotiate a fair increase in the face of soaring costs and there's been no real or timely support from the government.
Their statement in full reads:
Maypark House Nursing Home & Rockshire Care Centre have confirmed today that the challenges presented in operating a small, family-run nursing homes are proving unsustainable and they have taken the very difficult decision to cease operations.
The nursing homes run by the Dwyer family have been in operation for over 40 years. They provide accommodation for up to 38 residents in each nursing home and have taken great pride in providing person-centred care to hundreds of people from Waterford, South Kilkenny and the surrounding area.
“We feel that we had developed something special over the years in our small, family-run homes and we are enormously proud of our great team across both homes who we consider to be our extended family.”
“We have been under considerable pressure in recent times, mainly due to HIQA's unrealistic expectations of small nursing homes, the NTPF (Fair Deal) unwilling to negotiate a fair increase in the face of soaring costs and the Covid-19 pandemic. The combination of these factors and in the absence of any real or timely support from Government or the Regulator, has meant that we have unfortunately reached the end of the road.”
“Our focus will now turn to our Residents, their families and our staff as we navigate this period of transition together and we ask that their privacy is respected”.
Tadhg Daly is the CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland and he also believes the sector is under huge pressure.
"All of our warnings over the last number of years, unfortunately, have gone unheeded... We would expect government to sit up now and take note and take the appropriate action to ensure that we can sustain the nursing home sector, both now and in to the future," he told WLR News.
There are a total of 65 residents between the two homes and it's understood assistance will be provided to find new places for those people.
Junior Minister for Older People, Mary Butler has been telling WLR News that they're not the only nursing homes to have announced they're closing recently.
"I don't have a lot of information at the moment but it is something that I'm very concerned about," she said.
It's understood some private operators nationally are opting instead to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.
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