Nursing home has had six Covid deaths

SIX residents of Deerpark Nursing Home in Bantry have died as a result of an outbreak of Covid-19.

‘This has been very upsetting for everyone in our home and especially our residents’ loved ones and we extend our deepest sympathies to all their families and extended friends,’ a spokesperson said.

Deerpark said it is in regular contact with the Department of Public Health Covid-19 outbreak control team and also notified Hiqa from the outset.

The spokesperson described the Covid-19 outbreak at Deerpark as ‘ongoing’ but said it is being managed.

‘We are continuing to actively manage the outbreak, and are in constant contact with our residents’ families to keep them updated,’ he said.

‘The home is fully staffed so there is no great need of HSE support at this stage. Our residents remain our primary focus throughout this difficult time.’

Vaccinations at Deerpark began on January 17th last, just 10 days before the death of three residents.

The HSE does not comment on individual cases or nursing homes, but it did confirm there are more than 60 outbreaks in residential settings across Cork and Kerry.

This includes private nursing homes, community hospitals, disability centres and mental health services, but the majority of the outbreaks are in residential centres for older people.

‘While the scale and impact of the outbreaks varies we can confirm that we are currently supporting a significant number of residential centres in crisis,’ the HSE spokesperson said. ‘Our absolute priority in all cases is to make sure the residents of nursing homes continue to receive the care they need, despite the challenge presented by Covid-19 related staff leave.

‘The level of staff ill with Covid-19 across the health service means that it is difficult for some locations to maintain their staffing at the levels needed, and this is a constant challenge. Staff are going to heroic lengths to make sure that residents continue to receive the care they need.

The HSE has requested the assistance of the Defence Forces in providing support around cleaning and waste disposal at a number of nursing homes in crisis.