TD calls for nursing homes to be brought back under public ownership

PHOTO: Stock image, posed.

A TD told the HSE and Department officials that if one lesson is learnt from the COVID-19 crisis in some nursing homes, it is that elderly care cannot be left to private providers

People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith called for a reversal of the policy of care for the elderly being provided overwhelmingly by private providers, during a special Dáil committee on Covid-19 this week.

She also challenged HSE CEO Paul Reid and Department officials on the state's handling of the crisis in nursing homes.

The TD said she didn’t accept the narrative that all that could be done was done and done at the right time.

She said: “Your submission contradicts my experience and the calls I received from desperate nursing home staff, who had no PPE and knew patients being discharged to their care from hospitals who were not tested for Covid-19.”

She repeated the call for an Independent Public Enquiry into the handling of the Covid-19 crisis in our Nursing Homes.