Many Nursing Homes are waiting five days or more for Covid-19 test results of staff and residents, according to a new snapshot survey of 233 private and voluntary nursing homes conducted on Wednesday by Nursing Homes Ireland.
It shows that 45% of nursing homes have incurred a wait of five days or more for results to be returned. A quarter of respondents have yet to receive results.
The delay in test results is having an impact on staffing levels in some nursing homes with 306 senior and general nursing staff unavailable due to Covid-1 9, 616 health care assistants are also unavailable.
When staff from other disciplines are included, 1,152 staff are unavailable to nursing homes. The survey also shows that the number of Health Service