By Gary Petrov

As people journey through life, independence can grow and thrive – however, sometimes, in life, and especially as some people get older, independence can unfortunately decline. 

With a decline in a person’s ability to be independent, comes dependency with everyday issues, that can begin to overpower, to the point where living at home might prove to be unsustainable. 

Long-term care facilities are a beacon of hope for a person who needs 24/7 care – allowing the person to still be able to indulge in their own life experience, all while in the hands of professional care givers. 

However, it’s not always an easy journey into long-term care as established nursing homes are more than often full and have waiting lists for potential future admissions. 

In August 2024, research involving 1000 people was conducted by Coyne Research and commissioned by Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) and found that six out of 10 people fear for their loved ones being able to find a place in local nursing homes. 

It was a nursing home in Kinsealy, Co. Dublin, that had the advantage of space and more accessible admissions, for a time – as it was only recently opened, with no waiting list, and with rooms available for anyone in its local community, looking at long-term care options. 

A short distance from coastal towns, Malahide and Portmarnock, in the tranquil countryside setting of Kinsealy, Woodlawn Manor opened its doors in February 2024 to less than 10 new residents requiring care facilities. 

With a maximum capacity of 97 residents, Woodlawn Manor had space for new residents for a total of nine months, before reaching its maximum capacity earlier this month. 

Teagan MacAodhagáin is the Director of Nursing at Woodlawn Manor and has worked exclusively in elderly care since graduating as a nurse, and has been a Director of Nursing since 2018.  

“We’re very passionate about what we do,” said MacAodhagáin. “The core team, myself, the clinical nurse managers, reception administrators and that – we really live by our motto ‘Care is what we do’.” 

“I always tell my staff that the standard of care is what you want for the person you love most and anything less than that is falling below the standard that we should have. I think that’s important, that that’s what you aim to deliver – you try and achieve that.  

“Some days the tea might be cold when it arrives, or the laundry might be a bit delayed. Things will happen with human error and various things, but if you’re aiming for something you would like for the person you love most, then I think you’re going to do a good job, nine times out of 10. 

“We have filled up remarkably fast. I’ve been involved in a number of new nursing homes, and I would be familiar with nursing homes opening up. It was faster than what would’ve been expected, perhaps, given the number of nursing homes in the locality. What has led to that? Definitely, I think the setting, the setting is beautiful. The countryside and sea-views. Having a brand-new purpose-built facility was also very helpful. That had a big attraction, early on.  

“Internal factors – assembling a good core team at the beginning. I hired people I was familiar with and people I worked with before – people I knew. It wasn’t a brand-new venture with lots of people pulled into it. It was a team that knew each other and worked together before. We knew one another and knew how we worked together.  

“Having a dedicated admissions nurse helped, a role I created for the first year – which was really important and instrumental in filling the place up. Someone who was out doing assessments, being a point of contact for all. 

“It was a little bit daunting to have 97 rooms and the onus to fill them, but not having to have a waiting list, it was really nice. It was great to not have to turn anyone away. To be able to take people for respite, short-term care, to take people who were at the end of life and needed a few days of care while passing. It was nice to be able to do that,” he said. 

Since reaching maximum capacity this month, MacAodhagáin discussed the inevitable shift in the admissions process saying that they are starting their waiting list now and new admissions will only be selected from the waiting list when a room becomes available. 

MacAodhagáin said he must “give credit” to Woodlawn Manor’s admissions nurse Camelia Ganea, who is also a clinical nurse manager in the facility – for her “marvellous” hard work all year as they welcomed their new residents.

Since 2018, at least 77 nursing homes have closed around Ireland. Of that number, 10 closed in 2023 and seven have closed this year to date. Last month, Nursing Homes Ireland said that this is due to a mixture of rising operational costs and Fair Deal Scheme pressures. 

When asked about the issues and worries surrounding nursing home closures in the country, MacAodhagáin said, “From what I know, the nursing homes that have closed down have been smaller, family-run nursing homes.” 

“Standalone nursing homes, or the building might be old and isn’t up to the current regulations. Fire regulations and things like that have become, and rightly so, more stringent and more in depth of what’s required. For older buildings, they can be a very large cost implication, to bring them up to the standard that’s required. 

“I’m also aware of lots of larger companies opening more and more homes or buying homes. I do think there are homes out there, all-right,” he said.

Something that can naturally accompany a person being placed into long-term care is the emotional element for their family, ending their chapter of life with their loved one in the family home. 

Patrick Maguire recently placed his spouse into long-term care and chose Woodlawn Manor. “When the time came to put my wife into long-term care, my family and I, while coping with the emotional aspect of it, feared it would be a race against time with her individual case, to find a nursing home in the local community that tended to her needs, with a vacant room available as soon as it was needed for her,” he said.  

“With all of the organising and preparing of affairs that comes with this difficult choice of accepting that your spouse can no longer live independently at home, it was daunting for my family and I to go and view nursing homes in my local area and be told that they are currently full and that they have waiting lists that I could add my wife’s name to. 

“Not everyone has time for waiting lists and we didn’t. Woodlawn Manor was a God send. After enquiring about several nursing homes, my family and I rushed to view it as soon as we were made aware of it having less than 10 residents, at the time. 

“We were very impressed and acted quickly. We were then able to have my wife in their care within a few days, after the necessary admission paperwork was done. The process worked out well for us in the end, and I say that delicately, because her condition proved for living at home to no longer be an option. However, luck played a huge part as firstly, we liked the nursing home for my wife, and secondly, the nursing home had room. 

“The difficulty of finding a local nursing home with a vacancy, and one that is suitable for your loved one’s needs, is a task in itself – on top of all of the emotions and pain that comes with accepting the reality of it all. 

“We were lucky to have a difficult journey made easier with Woodlawn Manor not being full, but when the time comes for people nationwide, not many will find themselves with a new nursing home nearby, full of rooms at their convenience for them or a loved one,” he said. 

Asking the Director of Nursing what he would say to someone looking at Woodlawn Manor as a long-term care option for a loved one, he referred to their motto and the feedback they have received since opening, and said, “Our motto is ‘Care is what we do’, and I came up with that motto because care is what I’m really passionate about. Firstly, we’ve been told that it’s a very calm and homely environment. Secondly, people most commonly say that the staff really care.” 

“As the Director of Nursing, it makes me very very proud that people can see that the staff genuinely care about the residents. I think that’s what we have to offer. When you care, you go the extra mile for the residents. This is their home and their time with us is perhaps the last time they’ll have anywhere – and we want it to be good, we want people to feel at home. We want people to be cared for and cared about,” he said. 

Woodlawn Manor offers residential nursing care, respite care, convalescence care, dementia care and end of life care. 

Useful resources from Nursing Homes Ireland on choosing a nursing home can be found here.