Nursing Homes Ireland wants urgent meeting with minister regarding pay deal

Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) has written to the minister for health seeking an urgent meeting regarding a pay deal signed off on this week by the Workplace Relations Commission for Section 39 organisations funded under health legislation.

The agreement has “excluded and discriminated against” staff in private and voluntary nursing homes “as the continuing cycle of home closures continues”, an NHI spokesperson said.

The group has called for the Government’s nursing home support scheme run by the National Treatment Purchase Fund, which funds private and voluntary nursing homes, to be resourced to in-build the provisions of the agreement into its funding.

Cork’s Tadhg Daly, chief executive of the NHI, said that staff in private and voluntary nursing homes have been “disregarded”.

He explained: “The agreement compounds a long history of discrimination against private and voluntary homes, with an outlandish disparity between the funding for public nursing homes versus private and voluntary ones.

“It is unjust and immoral, and the latest agreement reinforces a long-standing inequity facing nursing home care staff, who provide essential services to older people and vulnerable individuals.

“Private and voluntary nursing homes account for over 80% of nursing home care provision in Ireland, yet their staff remain unfairly denied the same recognition and remuneration as their counterparts in the broader health and social care sector, particularly those in public settings.”

Mr Daly continued: “Nursing home staff are vital nationally and deserve equal recognition and fair remuneration in all settings. It is imperative that the Government, and all relevant stakeholders, act now to address this disparity.”