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The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler, welcome the publication of updated regulations to support the rollout of the Patient Advocacy Service to private nursing homes and to support best practice and standardise complaints processes.
Minister Donnelly today signed regulations to amend the Care and Welfare regulations for long-term residential care facilities for older people. The regulations have been amended in response to recommendations from the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel Report and a Programme for Government commitment to examine extending the remit of the Patient Advocacy Service (PAS) to residents of long-term residential care facilities.
The amendments, which will come into effect on 1 March 2023, will clarify and enhance existing provisions and facilitate the phased rollout of PAS to private nursing homes from November 2022. PAS aims to provide independent, professional support to nursing home residents and their families to make a formal complaint regarding the care they have received.
In addition, requirements in relation to complaints processes have been amended to provide for greater specification to enable improved standardisation and timely responses.
The amendments will:
Minister Donnelly said:
"I am pleased to bring forward these amendments which aim to provide greater access to independent advocacy services for private nursing homes and also to standardise complaints processes across the sector. These welcome developments will place a greater focus on the voice of the resident, empowering them to shape and improve their care."
Welcoming the amendments and the publication of the Crowe Review of Nursing Homes Complaints Policies, Minister Butler said:
"It is really important for residents and their families to have access to advocacy services and a robust complaints process across all long-term residential care facilities for older people. It is important to remember that long-term residential care facilities for older people are residents’ homes. The voice and choice of older people should be heard and respected, and these new amendments will further support this. I would like to thank all long-term residential care facilities for older people for their cooperation in this regard."
Minister Butler continued:
"As emphasised in the Crowe review, it is critical that we further build on good practice across the sector, to embed a positive complaints culture that enables issues to be responded to quickly and, more broadly, can be a driver for quality improvement."
The Health Act 2007 (Care and Welfare of Residents in Designated Centres for Older People) Regulations 2013 requires all registered providers to provide an accessible and effective complaints procedure, however a standardised approach is not prescribed across private nursing homes. The regulations also provide a broad provision that registered providers shall ensure residents have access to independent advocacy services.
These amending regulations, the Health Act 2007 (Care and Welfare of Residents in Designated Centres for Older People) (Amendment) Regulations 2022, will provide improved access to independent advocacy services and greater standardisation of complaints processes in long-term residential care facilities for older people. The commencement date of 1 March 2023 will allow time for the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) and registered providers to make changes as required in order to meet the amended regulations. It will also give PAS an opportunity to build awareness of their services in private nursing homes.
Crowe Advisory Ireland Limited were commissioned to conduct a review of complaints policies of nursing homes in Ireland and internationally. As part of this review, Crowe reviewed current complaints policies from a sample of long-term residential care facilities for older people, reviewed policies in a number of comparator countries and engaged with key stakeholders to gain their perspectives on current complaints procedures, including suggestions for improvement and their views on what an ideal complaints policy might look like.
The Crowe Review highlighted the following key principles of good complaints policies to promote consistency and align with good practice:
The recommendations from the Crowe Review were used to inform the amendments to the regulations in order to support best practice and standardisation of complaints processes and access to independent advocacy services.
The amendments to the complaints process will largely be made within Part 10 of the Health Act 2007 (Care and Welfare of Residents in Designated Centres for Older People) Regulations 2013.