Nursing home beds empty as HSE can’t attract staff

HSE West can’t get nursing staff interested in working in a nursing home in Carraroe which means 15 beds lay vacant in the public facility.

The 55 bed Aras Mhic Dara has a waiting list of eight who are accommodated in private nursing homes while beds lie vacant in the facility due to a staffing issue.

Councillor Catherine Connolly (Ind) was told this week at a HSE Regional Forum meeting that they were in the process of recruiting staff for the unit.

After Cllr Connolly pressed the executive officers at the meeting for an explanation as to why the nursing complement wasn’t reached so that all of the beds could be opened, she was told that “it was difficult to get staff to work in certain areas”.

She had said earlier that it made no sense to have empty beds in a public facility while the HSE were paying for beds in private nursing homes.

For more on this story, see this week’s Connacht Tribune