The Nursing Homes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Facilities and services

18.—(1) Subject to regulation 3(3), the registered person shall provide facilities and services to patients in accordance with the statement of purpose required by regulation 3(1)(b) in respect of the nursing home.

(2) The registered person shall having regard to the size of the nursing home and the number and needs of patients –

(a) provide, so far as is necessary for the purpose of managing the home, appropriate telephone and other communication facilities;

(b) provide telephone facilities which are suitable for the needs of patients, and make arrangements to enable patients to use such facilities in private;

(c) provide in rooms occupied by patients adequate furniture, bedding and other furnishings, including curtains and floor coverings, and equipment suitable to the needs of patients and screens where necessary;

(d) permit patients, so far as it is practicable to do so, and subject to fire and safety requirements, to bring their own furniture and furnishings into the rooms they occupy;

(e) arrange for the regular laundering of linen and clothing;

(f) so far as it is reasonable and practicable to do so, provide adequate facilities for patients to wash, dry and iron their own clothes if they so wish and, for that purpose, to make arrangements for their clothes to be sorted and kept separately;

(g) so far as it is reasonable and practicable to do so, provide sufficient and suitable kitchen equipment, crockery, cutlery and utensils, and adequate facilities for the preparation and storage of food;

(h) so far as it is reasonable and practicable to do so, provide adequate facilities for patients to prepare their own food and ensure that such facilities are safe for use by patients;

(i) after consultation with the environmental health department of the district council for the district in which the nursing home is situated, make suitable arrangements for maintaining satisfactory standards of hygiene in the nursing home;

(j) keep the nursing home free from offensive odours;

(k) make suitable arrangements for the disposal of general and clinical waste;

(l) provide a place where the money and valuables of patients may be deposited for safe keeping, and make arrangements for patients to acknowledge in writing the return to them of any money or valuables so deposited;

(m) consult patients about their social interests, and make arrangements to enable them to engage in local, social and community activities and to visit, or maintain contact or communicate with, their families and friends;

(n) where activities are provided by or on behalf of the nursing home, including training, occupation and recreation, there are arrangements to ensure that –

(i) activities are planned and provided with regard to the needs of the patients; and

(ii) patients are consulted about the planned programme of activities.

(3) The registered person shall ensure that so far as practicable patients have the opportunity to attend religious services of their choice.