HSE urged to buy up Galway 60-bed private nursing home to meet demand
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has been urged to buy a private nursing home on the Headford Road to generate more community beds in the public system.
Galway City Councillor Shane Forde (FG) said it made sense that the HSE would purchase the home formerly known as Coral Haven Nursing Home in Ballinfoile.
He said the facility, Aperee Living Galway, has 60 beds needed in the public system.
This would help alleviate pressure on University Hospital Galway, which recently experienced overcrowding due to delayed discharges because of a lack of community beds.
The HSE has been running it since August 2024 as a ‘provider of last resort’.
The HSE was granted a court order to take over the home after HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) identified areas of non-compliance there in early 2024.
There were 55 workers and 37 residents at the Ballinfoile home when the HSE took charge of the facility, and staff and families of residents living there welcomed the HSE’s intervention at the time.
Integrated Health Area Manager for Galway/Roscommon Ann Cosgrove told the latest HSE West Regional Health Forum meeting that the home has been closed to admissions since the HSE took it over in August 2024.
Some 35 of its beds were currently closed there, she said.
“A private provider has expressed an interest in purchasing Coral Haven Nursing Home. At present, we have not been advised of any associated timelines. The HSE will continue to liaise with the interested provider as appropriate,” Ms Cosgrove said.
Councillor Forde said the nursing home had 60 beds needed in the public system and he urged the HSE to buy it.
He said the HSE tries every week to transfer patients out of UHG and this facility has 60 extra beds available.
“There is no business reason not to buy it . . . why did we not try to buy it?” he asked.
In October 2023, the Tribune reported on a damning HIQA report that found the operator had failed to take urgent action to address serious fire safety risks two years after they were identified in Aperee’s own assessment.
HIQA also said it was not appropriately managing money owned by residents and “may be using it for purposes other than for the resident it belonged to”.
When the HSE took over Coral Haven in 2024 it said its priority was the welfare of the residents and staff.
“We have met the staff and we are engaging with all parties to explore options for the future operation of the home,” it said at the time.
"We are committed to communicating with everyone involved throughout the process to ensure the welfare of residents in the long term,” it added.