Nursing homes are facing a staffing crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) has warned.

The organisation, which represents the private and voluntary nursing home sector, warned that a promised redeployment of staff to work in these homes "is not manifesting on the ground".

A snapshot survey of private and voluntary nursing homes nationwide, which was carried out on April 22, found that many nursing, care and other staff are now unavailable to work as a result of COVID-19.

Furthermore, with mass testing now taking place in nursing homes, the staffing issue is expected to worsen even more.

The survey revealed that 107 senior nurses were absent from 60 nursing homes, while 223 nurses were absent from 102 nursing home.

A further 427 healthcare assistants were absent from 158 nursing homes, with 29 homes recording more than 10 assistants absent.

Almost 300 staff members from other disciplines were also missing from 122 nursing homes.

When the survey asked if staff had been made available and redeployed by the HSE to support the staffing complement during COVID-19, 96% of nursing homes (227 out of 236) replied no. Just 4% (nine out of 236) of nursing homes replied yes.

"Many nursing homes are faced with a staffing crisis due to COVID-19 and it is imperative they are enabled to meet this challenge. Our nursing homes are a vital element of the health service and the commitment to redeploy health staff needs to manifest.

"The challenge is likely to escalate as mass testing is undertaken within nursing homes across Ireland and the number of staff unavailable increases. In some instances, large numbers of nursing home staff are becoming unavailable and this is placing a huge strain upon nursing homes and the staff available to them," commented NHI chief executive, Tadhg Daly.

He emphasised that this is about the care of older people in Ireland and "we simply cannot get this wrong".

"It is absolutely vital that the promise that healthcare staff will be redeployed to support nursing homes starts translating into feet on the ground within our nursing homes," Mr Daly said.

Meanwhile, NHI repeated its request for inclusion on the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) and the Department of Health COVID-19 nursing homes working group.

"The surge within our nursing homes persists, yet the voice and input of our sector remains absent from NPHET and the Department's planning to respond to the what is occurring within nursing homes.

"We are seeing the issues presenting on the ground as they arise within nursing homes across the country. We want to bring to these to the table and measures that can stem this pandemic within our nursing homes," Mr Daly added.