Leading health officials in the Mid-West have supported the call for improved policy on the governance of private nursing homes to be put in place.

As of Monday, 3,365 people across the Republic of Ireland were hospitalised as a result of COVID-19, of this 1,818 were over the age of 65. Of the 1,772 deaths recorded as of Sunday, 994 were associated with nursing home outbreaks.

Speaking at a recent meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) stated that the pandemic “has shown up the vulnerability of private nursing homes”. Nursing homes in South Clare and South-East Clare experienced outbreaks of the virus in their facilities.

Addressing representatives from the HSE, the Shannon councillor asked for a “better policy” to be implemented to oversee the operations of private nursing homes.

Chief Officer with Mid-West Community Healthcare, Maria Bridgeman in response commented, “I couldn’t agree more that a better policy needs to be put in place. We feel strongly that a better policy needs to be put in place”.