Minister for Health Simon Harris has announced a €72 million support package for nursing homes which includes twice-daily staff screening, priority testing and financial support for affected homes in an effort to stem coronavirus outbreaks.
The measures, which aim to “double down” on clusters of the disease now reported in 38 nursing homes, include twice-a-day temperature checks and the appointment of Covid-19 managers in affected homes.
Staff movement across residential facilities will be minimised and the HSE will provide support staff with alternative accommodation and transport, if required.
He warned that agency staff, who move from nursing home to nursing home, presented a risk of spreading the virus.
Financial support
As part of a temporary Covid-19 financial support scheme there will be a per head payment of up to €800 a patient a month for each person in a nursing home.
This will apply to the first 40 residents. The figure for the next 40 residents will be €400 per month and it will be €200 per resident per month thereafter.
In addition to this, any nursing home that has an outbreak of Covid-19 will be able to apply for financial assistance of up to €75,000 a month for the months of April, May and June.
This money will be provided when a nursing home has incurred significant costs arising directly from a Covid-19 outbreak as certified by the HSE. The costs involved will have to be independently certified by an auditor.
Mr Harris said if all the nursing homes take up the maximum allocation of funds, the scheme will cost €72 million. This would represent a spend of €3,000 for each of the 24,000 long term residents of the State’s nursing homes.
He stressed there is an “urgent need for a focused and targeted response” across such homes given the number of clusters involved and the vulnerability of patients.
Three months
The scheme will operate for a three month period and be reviewed after the first month’s operation.
A national and regional Covid-19 prevention and control team will be set up to deal with nursing homes.
An infection protection adviser will be appointed for each nursing home in the country and for those involved in home visits to the elderly.
Every nursing home must prepare a Covid-19 preparation plan and designate at least one full-time staff member as their lead contact point.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) will carry out a risk assessment of all residential care centres in the coming weeks.
“We know the regulators knows the nursing home sector. We want them to work in a supportive manner to provide any additional supports or advice that our nursing homes will require,” he said.
“The primary goal must be to put as many protective measures in place for those vulnerable within our nursing home settings.”
Personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided to nursing home settings and to home support providers along with access to oxygen.
Progress
Speaking at a press conference in the Department of Health, Mr Harris said progress had been made with the disease. He revealed the average Irish person with Covid-19 had infected 4.3 other people on March 16th, but that figure had dropped to 2.5 people at the end of the month since containment measures were brought in.
“We need to get that number below one which means the virus does not sustain itself in the community,” he added.
The number of those with Covid-19 who had been in contact with other people had gone from 20 to three in the same period. “We are making it harder for the germs to spread from one to another and that’s good,” he said.
He said the next seven days will be “absolutely critical” in dealing with the virus. “We have seen the rate of growth slow, but to be blunt about it, it is still too high if we are to get to where we need to be.”
Reaction
The measures were welcomed by Nursing Homes Ireland, the representative body of the sector.
NHI chief executive Tadhg Daly said the State's Fair Deal scheme, which funds nursing care, had never envisaged the circumstances facing nursing homes at present.
He said Covid-19 had presented “huge, never-seen-before challenges for nursing home and wider healthcare services”.
He added: “Planning by Government for the hospital system and wider society has gone on for months. It is welcome that the focus has shifted to nursing homes now, where our most vulnerable are living.
“We acknowledge the recognition by the State of the challenges faced by the sector. We thank the minister for today’s interim measures in the evolving situation and acknowledge commitment by him to regular engagement with NHI and support for residents in nursing homes.”
Mr Daly said residents and staff in nursing homes must be prioritised for testing and have “timely access” to personal protection equipment (PPE).
