Health

ESRI: Big private operators now dominating nursing home sector

With the closure of almost 700 public beds, the sector is now ‘increasingly reliant’ on a small number of large profit-driven operators, says state research body

Nursing home care: since 2020, almost a fifth of all smaller private nursing homes with fewer than 30 beds also closed in Ireland, mainly in rural areas, but larger private operators have expanded. Picture: Getty

Ireland’s nursing home sector is now dominated by large private operators following the closure of almost 700 public beds, new research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has shown.

Dr Brendan Walsh, a senior research officer at the ESRI and author of the research, said the sector is now “increasingly reliant” on a small number of large profit-driven operators following the entrance of new entities financed by international private equity.

Between February 2020 ...