A Waterford TD says staff and residents at St Carthage's rest home in Lismore have all tested negative for Covid-19.
Fianna Fáil's Mary Butler is calling for regular testing in nursing homes and residential facilities.
Questioning the Health Minister in the Dáil, she said St Carthage's are overjoyed with the result:
"Once again, I would like to speak about nursing and care homes. I acknowledge the Minister's statement to the effect that, based on the preliminary data, the number of cases has declined from approximately 100 a day in early April to approximately 50 a day towards the end of last week. I pay tribute to and thank the fantastic staff in all the nursing and care homes throughout the country for the work they have done over the past two months. They have gone far beyond the call of duty.
On Tuesday last, I visited St. Carthage's House in Lismore, a care home for 42 residents. It is a fantastic facility for people with low to moderate dependencies. I called to deliver hand sanitiser supplied by Irish Distillers and distributed through Irish Rural Link. Unfortunately, couriers were unable to deliver due to the alcohol content so I took on the delivery for the Waterford area. Delivering the hand sanitiser outside the premises, observing social distancing, I commented that the staff were in terrific form. They told me that all 42 residents and staff had been tested, results had come back and every one of them was Covid-19 free. The concern for residents and staff had been ongoing for weeks, since the pandemic started, and it is the same in all facilities. There should be regular testing of staff and residents in nursing and care homes, perhaps on a monthly or bimonthly basis. The pandemic has borne down heaviest on older people, particularly those in nursing homes and residential facilities. The most recent figures indicate that 740 nursing home residents have passed away having contracting the coronavirus. That is more than half of all the confirmed deaths.
I am aware that testing has been ramped up in nursing homes in recent weeks and I understand that more than 90% of residents and staff have now been tested. That is welcome, but it is an exercise that should be repeated on a consistent basis. Does the Minister agree that there should be testing on a consistent basis, perhaps monthly or bimonthly? Hopefully, it could be done in-house because the faces of those at St. Carthage's who knew they were Covid-19 free were a joy to behold."
The Minister for Health Simon Harris replied.
"I thank Deputy Butler for telling me about her visit to St. Carthage's House and for the work she has been doing to help in the context of delivering hand sanitiser. The experience she has articulated is one that I have seen across the country when I engage with nursing home owners and at my twice-weekly meeting with nursing home owners also. It is that sense of relief and reassurance that a negative result can provide.
Thankfully, we saw the positivity rate of testing overall, not just in nursing homes, drop back to approximately 3.7% last week. The overwhelming majority of people are getting the peace of mind that they do not have Covid.
The Deputy is right that testing is only a point in time and one needs to keep going back and doing it again and again. The short answer to the Deputy's question in this regard is "Yes". There will be a recurring programme of testing for long-term residential care facilities. NPHET is due to consider a paper on how best to do that either at its meeting tomorrow or Tuesday of next week. It will be finalised within the next week. We will be also talking to the nursing home sector, HIQA and others about how lessons can be learned in regard to streamlining the process. Deputy Butler is correct, too, that there is a real appetite from nursing home staff nurses to do the testing themselves, which would greatly assist everybody. We will take them up on that offer but we need to work out a way to do it most appropriately."
Meanwhile Mary Butler has welcomed the donation of Hand Sanitiser from Irish Rural Link to Meals on Wheels Services in Waterford
Irish Rural Link (IRL) - the national network representing the interest of rural communities delivered a supply of hand sanitisers to Meals on Wheels providers in Waterford
yesterday which were sourced by Irish-owned Consultancy Firm 3Sixty following their call for assistance from Irish Distilleries.
IRL have a network of their Meals on Wheels members and are aware of the increase in demand for the service since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.
They are also facing many extra challenges at this time including; sourcing extra supplies of hand sanitiser, gloves, face masks etc.
Meals on Wheels organisations continue to be underfunded and have to rely on fundraising activities and other income sources to top up on any funding they receive from the HSE. They are only able to budget year to year and with all fundraising events and use of their space for other activities having to be cancelled, it has impacted on their annual budgets just three months into the year.
Mary Butler TD, who works closely with Meals on Wheels groups in Waterford has said "This donation is very welcome and I know our Meals on Wheels members will appreciate this in this crisis period. These groups have been hit hard with extra costs due to the increase in demand and donations like this one will help them continue to deliver the service to one of the most vulnerable groups of people in a safe way."
She went onto say that "This initiative has been amazing and the goodwill of organisations like Irish Rural Link and Irish Distilleries is a great example of Business and community working together to ensure that our elderly and most vulnerable in society are looked after."
If Meals on Wheels groups across the country are in need of Hand Sanitiser, they can contact Irish Rural Link on 090 6482744 and they will try to assist.
