Surge in care home cases ‘cause for serious concern’, says sector chief

The success of the national vaccination campaign has prevented any return to the levels seen in the grim early stages of the pandemic when more than 2,000 people died in nursing homes and community hospitals. Stock image

January 16 2022 02:30 AM

---

A significant increase in Covid-19 cases in nursing homes in the first week of this month is a matter of “serious concern”, Tadhg Daly, the chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland, has said.

A seven-fold increase in outbreaks in nursing homes has worried residents, their families and carers.

There were 56 new outbreaks in the nursing homes in the first week of this month compared with the previous week, the HSE said.

The pandemic’s fifth wave began on December 19 as Omicron variant infections took hold.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) said there were 68 outbreaks in the first week of the year in  nursing homes and small local community hospitals compared with seven the previous week. In the first week of 2022, 508 people became infected in those settings.

Mr Daly said the sharp increase in infections in nursing homes mirrored what was happening in the wider community. Extraordinarily high levels of infections were happening in the community, and nursing homes were no different.

“At least residents are not becoming as sick and there are lower levels of illness,” he said.

“This is thanks to the booster vaccine campaign and is also a tribute to the professionalism of nursing home staff. Around 2,800 staff are currently absent as a result of what is happening and adherence to close contact rules.

“Remaining staff are working a lot of extra hours to cover care needs and many are exhausted. But they are very resilient and continue to demonstrate great care and compassion for those in their care.”

There are 35,000 people working in 440 private and 110 public nursing homes, where deaths have decreased significantly.