Report Says New Residents Of Nursing Homes Should Be Tested For Covid 19 Prior To Admission

All new residents of nursing homes should be tested for coronavirus prior to admission, according to the Covid 19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel.

It's published it's final report in which it also recommends people should only be admitted to homes that demonstrate their infection control measures are of sufficient standard.

This panel was set up to examine how Ireland and other countries responded to Covid 19 and look at emerging best practice to ensure all response measures are prepared for.

Among the recommendations it suggests all new residents of nursing homes coming from community settings and proposed transfers from hospitals should be tested for Covid 19 prior to admission.

Those admissions should only be made to facilities that demonstrate their infection control measures are of suffient standard to ensure there is no risk of onward infection.

It recommends that for the next 18 months or until the declaration of the end of the global pandemic by the W-H-O, nursing home staff should be precluded from working across multiple sites and adequate contracts should be in place to support this.

Within 9 months the HSE should produce a detailed report on the management and outcomes of the multiple clusters that occurred during the pandemic.