Closure of Cork city nursing home ‘upsetting and difficult’ for staff and residents

A Cork city nursing home set to close next month has said it is aware the decision will be “upsetting and difficult” for elderly residents, their families and staff.

The 37-bed Blair’s Hill private nursing home in Sunday’s Well is set to close on March 31, bringing the number of nursing home beds closed in Cork to 197 since September 2022.

Management has formally notified and is engaged with the regulator Hiqa on the closure. 

It is liaising with Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI), the HSE, and nearby nursing homes on prospective transfer of residents, a spokesperson told The Echo.

Management added that it was “with bitter disappointment” that the decision had been made to close.

They said: “For 21 years, we have strived to provide excellent quality, person-centred care.

“We believe this has been achieved through the outstanding care staff we have employed from the local community and beyond the past 21 years.

“We recognise and appreciate this decision will prove upsetting and difficult for residents and their families and we will continue to support them.

“We also appreciate this will be an upsetting decision for staff and are engaged with them to help and support them through this process.”

Shortage 

The Cork-born chief executive of NHI, Tadhg Daly, confirmed to The Echo there was a shortage of nursing home beds across Ireland: “It’s positive that people are living longer, but we have that aging demographic and we are not planning appropriately. More and more people are requiring nursing home care, and we have probably less beds overall than we had a number of years ago.

“The closure of Blair’s Hill is very sad because ultimately, it’s people’s home. I understand people are there for as long as eight or 10 years, so it’s very upsetting for them.”

He explained that NHI have been getting in contact with all their members in Cork asking if they have any capacity for the residents.

“The ultimate issue for us is people will be leaving their homes and their friends,” said Mr Daly.

This will be the fifth Cork nursing home to close in less than four years. A total of 30 beds were lost when a Fermoy nursing home closed in September 2022, while 68 beds in Belgooly were lost in 2023, as well as 12 beds in Midleton, and 50 in Mallow, NHI figures show.

Mr Daly said that stakeholders should be working on a long-term plan, as a recent ESRI report said Cork and Kerry may need more than 4,000 additional nursing home beds in the next 15 years.

A HSE spokesperson told The Echo that as it is a private nursing home that is closing HSE South West’s only role would be to support residents who come under the Nursing Home Support Scheme to find suitable alternative placements.