Horwath Bastow Charleton Limerick

The primary purpose of the Annual Private Nursing Home Survey is to report comprehensively on the key indicators, trends and issues affecting the sector. Some of the principal findings of this year’s Survey are outlined below. It is worth noting that the figures mentioned below are in the main national averages. Variations from these averages exist due to multiple factors including location, size of nursing home etc. The body of the report should be referred to for detailed analysis.

The average occupancy level nationally was found to be 91.2%. This represents a 1.8% increase since 2006. Average occupancy levels in the Northern and South-Western areas of the former Eastern Region Health Authority were found to be the highest in the country. (Results of the Survey are presented using the ten HSE areas which existed prior to the reorganisation of the HSE in 2005. This is to facilitate comparability with previous years’ Surveys and to provide a more detailed breakdown of information geographically.)

The average weekly rate nationally across all areas and room types was found to be €778. Across the country, weekly rates for a single en-suite room ranged from €485, which was noted in the North-Western area, to €1,330 which was noted in the East Coast area.

Nationally, an average of 48% of nursing homes’ income was found to come from the HSE through subvention.

There are now over 18,800 private beds in the country. The private nursing home bed stock has increased by some 5% since the 2006 Survey was undertaken.

Over 1,000 new private beds were added to the private bed supply in the year to the end of November 2007 as a result of new nursing home facilities coming on stream. In the same period 531 beds were lost as a result of home closures.

Planning approval was granted for the construction of 20 new nursing homes in the year to the end of November 2007.

On average Survey respondents had operated their nursing home for 15 years. Over 83% of nursing homes were purpose built and approximately 64% of bedrooms were found to be single occupancy. 19% of homes surveyed provided specialist dementia units while almost 20% provided day care facilities.

Independent living units were operated by 13% of Survey respondents. The vast majority of these units were located adjacent to homes with 40 beds or more.

There has been a significant increase in staff cost per registered bed since 2006. The national average staff cost per registered bed in 2007 was €20,896 which represents an increase of 21% since 2006. Increases of between 25% and 35% were noted in the East Coast, Northern, South-Western and Midlands areas. Nationally staff costs were found to equate to 60% of turnover.

Food costs were also found to have increased when compared to 2006. When analysed by size of nursing home, food costs were found to have increased by approximately 5% to 22%. Food costs now represent almost 6% of turnover nationally.

The average length of stay for residents in respondents' homes was 3.7 years.

Key Annual Indicators
The table below highlights the changes in key industry indicators which have been reported since the Annual Private Nursing Home Survey was first undertaken in 2003:

	INHO Survey 2003	INHO Survey 2004	INHO Survey 2005	INHO Survey 2006	INHO Survey 2007
Occupancy	89.0%	86.8%	86.1%	89.4%	91.2%
Weekly rates*	€557	€578	€640	€694	€778
No of beds	14,946	16,461	17,722	17,909	18883
No of homes	408	427	431	433	435
Population over 65 per private bed	29.1	26.5	24.6	24.3	24.8
Staff costs as a % of turnover	56%	56%	57%	60%	60%
Income from HSE as a % of total income	Not captured in 2003 survey	29%	33%	32%	48%
% of respondents planning to create additional beds in 2008	42%	21%	24%	29%	22%
% of total beds contracted to HSE in homes with HSE contract beds	Not captured in 2003 survey	32%	41%	30%	28%

* This is representative of the national rate across all room types and all regions.