Residential care: What you need to know on standards

If you, or somebody you know, are living in a nursing home or other residential care service, it must meet certain standards which include the quality of accommodation and care.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is responsible for inspecting and registering residential care services for older people, such as nursing homes.

Your residential care service or nursing home must be registered and independently inspected. This includes public, private and voluntary nursing homes.

Visitor rules in nursing homes

If you are living in a nursing home or residential service, you have the right to be facilitated to:

• Access visitors
• Access the internet
• Communicate freely
• Nominate a close friend considered part of your family for support

Since March 31, 2025, all nursing homes and residential services must have a written visitor policy. This must provide information on normal visitor access as well as access during an outbreak of a communicable disease, an epidemic or a pandemic.

The person in charge of the nursing home or residential service policy must also ensure:

• Visits to residents are not restricted unless it is impracticable, or there is a risk to a resident, or the resident has requested restrictions to visits
• Visiting restrictions are in place for the shortest period possible
• During restrictions, residents are helped to stay in touch with family.

Nursing home inspections and registrations

All nursing homes and residential services must be inspected and registered by HIQA to be allowed to operate. Residential services must re-register with HIQA every three years.

Since February 14, 2025, the Chief Inspector of Social Services in HIQA can enter and inspect a premises which is not registered, if they have reasonable grounds to believe that an unregistered residential centre is being operated.

What if a nursing home is not compliant?

HIQA inspections ensure that services meet the requirements set out by the Health Act (2007) and the National Standards.

If the service does not comply with the regulations or meet the Standards, it may fail to achieve registration status or lose its registration status.

Since February 14, 2025, the Chief Inspector of Social Services in HIQA also has the power to issue compliance notices to providers of residential care for older people when they are non-compliant with regulations. They can also collect, share and publish key operational data in relation to nursing homes.

When are nursing homes inspected?

HIQA inspections are a mixture of both announced and unannounced visits. They can happen at any time. This includes during the day, evenings, and weekends or at night.

The registration and inspection process is independent and reports are published after every inspection. The inspection reports provide information to residents, their families and the general public about the standards of care in individual centres.

What are the standards in a nursing home?

The National Standards for Residential Care Settings for Older People in Ireland aim to make sure the needs of people living in residential services are met and that there is a high quality of care.

If you are living in a nursing or care home, the standards aim to help you participate in, and contribute to, daily life, including:

• Promoting your rights and respecting your autonomy, privacy and dignity
• Supporting you to be as independent as possible and to exercise personal choice in your daily life
• Safeguarding and protecting you from abuse
• Providing you with information and assessment so you can get the appropriate supports to meet your needs

Complaining about a nursing home or residential service

If you, a member of your family or someone acting on your behalf have concerns about your care, you should first try to resolve these with the management of the residential service.

By law, all care providers must have a complaints process and tell you how you can make a complaint.

If you complain to your care service provider and you are not happy with the response, you can contact the Office of the Ombudsman. Your local Citizens Information centre can support you with this.

The Ombudsman investigates all complaints about public and private residential care so it doesn’t matter if you’re paying for the care yourself or it’s funded by the HSE.

You can also report a concern or give feedback with HIQA.

HIQA do not have the power to investigate individual complaints, but they can use the information to decide whether the service is meeting the needs of the people who live there.

If HIQA finds the residential service is not meeting those needs, they can take action to make sure that care services are improved.

• Further information on this and other topics is available at Cork City Centre Citizens Information on Cornmarket Street, open to the public Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9.45am to 12.30pm, Wednesdays from 2pm to 4pm, Tel 0818 07 6950 (Lines open Mon-Fri 10am-4.30pm). Blackpool CIC is open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am-1pm and 2-4pm, Tel 0818 07 6890. Hollyhill CIC is open Mondays and Fridays from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm.