Cork City public nursing homes have 39 elderly residents on waiting lists for transfer to facilities closer to home, the HSE said. The list includes a 95‑year‑old woman who has seen her husband only twice in the last 12 months after being moved 25 miles away, according to an advocate for the elderly.
Waiting list details
The HSE spokesperson confirmed that 39 people are currently living in either a private or public nursing home and are on waiting lists to transfer to an HSE community nursing unit or hospital closer to their preferred location. When a bed is not available in a person's preferred nursing home, they can choose to go on that unit's waiting list and accept an interim placement elsewhere. People may place their names on multiple waiting lists across different facilities. Private nursing homes manage their own admissions processes and waiting lists, so no HSE data is available on these centres.
In practice, when a vacancy becomes available in a public nursing home and a placement is offered, it is not uncommon for the offer to be declined, the spokesperson added.
Advocate voices
Paddy O’Brien, a Cork advocate for the elderly, described the situation as “heartbreaking.” He said that many elderly people experience loneliness and sadness because they have been moved to nursing homes in towns they have never visited. He highlighted that spouses often cannot travel to visit them. “They get excellent care in these nursing homes, but they miss their family continuously,” he said. O’Brien spoke to a 95‑year‑old woman who has seen her husband only twice in 12 months since he was moved to a nursing home 25 miles away, and they were told it was temporary.
O’Brien added that the HSE should have planned better by opening more nursing home beds in line with projected population increases. “They knew this was coming, and nothing was done to prepare for it,” he said.
HSE response
The HSE is working on increasing public nursing home capacity to provide greater choice for older people across the region. A previous spokesperson noted that there is a well‑recognised shortage of public nursing home beds in the Cork city area. The agency has said it is actively seeking solutions to the waiting list problem.
The situation underscores the need for better coordination between public and private nursing homes and for more robust planning to meet the needs of an ageing population in Cork City.
