Calls for ‘respect and dignity’ for Cork nursing home residents who fear being moved out

Beaumont Residential Care in Cork city announced its plan to withdraw from the state scheme last month, citing “extreme financial pressure” and low funding rates.

Family members will stage protests today outside the Cork constituency offices of Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney and Finance Minister Michael McGrath.

The relatives said they are seeking urgent help to keep their vulnerable loved ones in the home at the end of this month when it will no longer accept Fair Deal rates. It will revert to private fees of around €1,300 a week.

Rosie Roccaforte, whose 69-year-old mother is one of the residents at risk, said she and other vulnerable residents should be treated with the “respect and dignity” they deserve.

Ms Roccaforte said families are concerned that their loved ones will be rehomed in a nursing facility miles away.

She said there has been no “meaningful” action by politicians, and despite a “welcome” phone call from Mr Martin last week, she has received no updates since.

Ms Roccaforte, whose mother was diagnosed with dementia, said she is “only just comfortable” at Beaumont, having arrived six months ago after a long period of upheaval.

“We’ve gone through a couple of years – maybe even more – of a lot of upheaval with my mother going in and out of hospital,” she said.

“For her, as quite a young woman, she had to come around to the idea that, OK, she needs long-term care. Everything was only just getting settled.

“From what I can gather, we will basically have to get beds in other care homes, but currently there really isn’t enough beds in the vicinity available for them, so some will be waiting.

“They could be moved somewhere far away from their home at Beaumont and also from where their family is.”

The families are calling on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to intervene, saying they have “no faith at all” in Minister for Older People Mary Butler to resolve the issue and are now refusing to meet her.

Ms Roccaforte said Ms Butler has made “vague promises” to residents and their family members, leaving them with “no choice but to take this to the Taoiseach directly”.

“What we want from these protests is to keep pressure on the ministers,” she said.

“We want family members to stay. We want to push the Government to provide the funding and to treat our vulnerable loved ones with respect and dignity.”

The owners of the home, which is part of the CareChoice Group, have said the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), which negotiates rates, was “refusing to deliver cost-of-living increases for our residents” and its charges are lower than those for other Cork nursing homes.

Families said management recently told them they receive an extra €16 per resident per week, while nearby publicly-run nursing homes operating under the HSE get an extra €183 extra per resident per week.

Ms Roccaforte said current government policy is “discrim- inatory” and “disappointing” as it has left many vulnerable residents in limbo.

A spokesperson for Ms Butler said “engagement between the nursing home provider and the NTPF is the only way to resolve this issue”.

The spokesperson added that should services no longer be available under the Fair Deal scheme, residents will either be cared for within the existing system or, ultimately, the HSE will step in as “the statutory provider of last resort”.