Nursing Home Care Faces Sustainability Crisis Without National Nursing Home Care Policy, Warns NHI
Wednesday July 30, 2025New Insights Paper calls for urgent action to embed nursing home care within a rights-based, sustainable, and person-centred system.
A new Insights Paper published today by Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) has warned that, without urgent policy direction, Ireland’s nursing home care sector faces deepening fragmentation, widening inequities, and unsustainable pressure on residents, families, and staff.
The Insights Paper, Supporting Ageing in Place: Policy, Integration, and Nursing Home Care, brings together insights from across the sector, including care providers, academics, clinicians, advocates, and policymakers, to highlight the urgent need for a dedicated national policy for nursing home care.
It is informed by a high-level national roundtable convened by NHI on 18 February 2025, where a clear consensus emerged: the absence of a national nursing home care policy is one of the most serious systemic gaps in Ireland’s health and social care framework.
The roundtable brought together stakeholders from across the health and social care sector, including representatives of nursing home care providers, the Health Service Executive (HSE), and advocacy groups such as the Irish Hospice Foundation, Family Carers Ireland, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Home and Community Care Ireland, the Patient Advocacy Service, and Sage Advocacy, as well as academic contributors from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
With Ireland’s population aged 85 and over set to more than double by 2043, this demographic shift brings urgent implications for how we plan, deliver, and fund care, particularly for people with complex or high-dependency needs.
The paper identifies key policy gaps, challenges, and opportunities to better coordinate and embed nursing home care as part of a sustainable, integrated long-term care system.
Tadhg Daly, CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland, said:
“Ireland is ageing, and that’s something to be celebrated. It reflects better health, higher living standards, and longer, healthier lives. But with that comes a shared responsibility to ensure older people are supported, valued, and enabled to live with dignity.
“We urgently need a national nursing home care policy that puts residents at the centre, ensuring their voice, choice, and rights are embedded in how care is planned and delivered. A truly person-centred approach must shape all future policy decisions.
“This paper is a call to action, for Government, for policymakers, and for society, to address the gaps, support those providing care, and fully recognise that nursing home care is, first and foremost, about caring for the resident – the person.
“We remain committed to working with all relevant stakeholders, across Government, the wider health and social care system, and civil society, to support the delivery of a policy that helps shape sustainable, high-quality care for older people, now and into the future.
“I would also like to sincerely thank all those who participated in the roundtable discussion, their insights and contributions were instrumental in shaping this paper”
Kevin Deegan, Policy and Communications Lead at Nursing Homes Ireland and lead author of the paper, added:
“This paper highlights the pressing need for a clear and coherent national policy on nursing home care.
“At our national roundtable in February, stakeholders from across the sector pointed to the absence of strategic direction and joined-up planning. Nursing home care must be recognised as a critical component of the long-term care continuum, one that is fully integrated into the wider health and social care system.
“It draws on the collective knowledge and experience of care providers, advocates, policymakers, and others, setting out a clear path toward a resident-led, rights-based, and person-centred approach to care.”
The Insights Paper outlines ten thematic priorities identified at the roundtable, such as human rights, safeguarding, equitable access, workforce planning, funding, innovation, and public perception. It emphasises the need to embed quality of life, resident voice, and inter-agency collaboration across all aspects of policy development.
This paper reinforces that nursing home care must be equally recognised and resourced as a vital component of the long-term care continuum, particularly for those with complex or high-dependency needs.
NHI is committed to driving this work forward, partnering with Government and stakeholders to ensure nursing home care is fully embedded within a rights-based, sustainable, and person-led system that meets the needs of older people today and into the future.
ENDS
Kevin Deegan
Policy & Communications Lead
087 236 3039 | communications@nhi.ie
