TREATMENT OF THE ELDERLY IN SOME IRISH NURSING HOMES
REMEMBER...NOT ONE PERSON WAS HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THIS CRUELTY AND NEGLECT
And to make things worse, some of these elderly had to have their homes sold to pay for this 'service'.
HSE gave '€2m a year' to Leas Cross as patients died
THE Health Service Executive (HSE) was bankrolling Leas Cross nursing home by up to €2m a year at a time when one resident a week was dying there, it was revealed yesterday.
The newly formed Leas Cross Deaths Relatives Action Group said internal documents in April 2005 showed that, of 96 residents at the home, 48 were fully paid for and 27 partially supported financially by the HSE.
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Bruised and cut, then sedated 'because he was getting on nerves'
One day his daughter Ann visited her father and discovered that he had a gash on his head and bruises to his face, body and legs.
"Look at what they did to me," he said. When Ann and her sister asked for an explanation, none was provided.
When their father was sedated, his daughters again asked for an explanation, but nursing staff refused. Privately, a junior member of staff told them he was sedated because he was "a liability and getting on everybody's nerves".
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Betrayed a second time, say families of Leas Cross
They were angry that the review of more than 100 deaths at the nursing home which uncovered a catalogue of widespread neglect failed to find anyone accountable.
The report warned that abuse of the elderly is likely to be taking place in other facilities such is the weakness of nursing home regulation.
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Patient had to wait three days for doctor's visit
ELDERLY people transferred to Leas Cross nursing home survived for less time than was the norm, according to the report.
It was shorter still for people who were moved to the nursing home from St Ita's Hospital in Portrane.
Professor Des O'Neill referred to a published study showing residents transferred from St James's Hospital to nursing homes survived 17 to 44 months .
In Leas Cross, residents died within an average of 7.3 months from all hospitals - but a mere 2.5 months if they came from St Ita's.
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Elderly suffered 'systemic abuse and neglect'
Although there was no evidence the deaths were preventable, the conditions of care fell well below standard and large numbers of patients developed bed sores.
"Pressure-sore care is a key indicator of quality of care for vulnerable older people in residential care." There were no senior nurses trained in the care of older people at the home, and more than 20 extra nurses were needed to properly care for the residents last year, he said.
The supervisory role of the former Northern Area Health Board (NAHB), which later handed over the reins to the Health Service Executive (HSE), had been performed inadequately.
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Overwork to blame, claims former health board chief
Stretching of staff 'added to high-risk environment'
At no time during her tenure was the quality of care relating to patients in Leas Cross mentioned or reported to her personally .
The former HSE Director of Nursing Jack Buckley said he believed that when a new inspection team was established in 2004 they were anxious to bring about changes in the best interest of residents.
"I have no doubt this was the first time that proprietors, including the proprietor of Leas Cross, was put under scrutiny in relation to their statutory obligations and hold them accountable."
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An absence of accountability
Stretching of staff 'added to high-risk environment'
He revealed appalling abuses and an extraordinary death rate between 2002 and 2005.
The report is all too reminiscent of previous reports on care institutions in Ireland residential care settings for children and homes for individuals with special needs.
Leas Cross was shut down after an undercover RTE television investigation caused a public outcry.
The minister herself then commissioned Professor O'Neill, a consultant geriatrician, to investigate and produce a report on what that investigation highlighted.
All the more remarkable then that Mary Harney would choose to contradict one of Professor O'Neill's most clearly stated central findings.
He emphasises that it would be "a major error to presume the deficits identified in Leas Cross represent an isolated incident".
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Only 11 inspectors to check the care of 17,000 patients
THERE are just 11 inspectors whose sole function is to inspect the standard of care across 17,000 nursing home beds in Ireland.
The Irish Independent has learned that there are nine dedicated inspectors based in the Dublin North East area for the past number of months, none of whom are environmental health officers. A second team has been based in the former Mid-West region for almost five years and is made up of a nurse and medical officer. There are three environmental health officers on the team, but they also juggle other functions within the health service.
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Homes need to be inspected at night - expert
THERE should be night-time inspections of nursing homes in the public and private sector and physical and chemical restraints should only be used as a last resort, the Chairman of the Irish Society of Physicians in Geriatric Medicine has claimed.
Sean O'Keefe warned that using such restraints leads to "a dismal cycle, which explains why we've so many people sitting or sleeping apathetically around communal areas".
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New laws 'will stop repeat of scandal'
NEW legislation will set up a strict inspection regime for nursing homes so a Leas Cross scandal will never happen again, Health Minster Mary Harney said yesterday.
Speaking before a critical report on the north Dublin home was published, Ms Harney said she believed its sub-standard care was the exception rather than the norm. Leas Cross was shut down in July 2005 after an undercover RTE television investigation caused a public outcry.
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Written complaints ignored
These psychiatrists, from St Ita's psychiatric hospital in Portrane, were very anxious about the high mortality rate of their former patients transferred to Leas Cross and the numbers ending up in Beaumont Hospital with dehydration, pneumonia and skin problems.
After months of correspondence, one doctor had to correct a statement by the Director of Primary Community and Continuing Care that staff at St Ita's who conducted clinics at Leas Cross noticed nothing wrong in the nursing home.
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Pressure groups warn of more scandals
"Measureable national standards are essential because they would deliver accountability, quality and consistency throughout the country. A great deal of very professional work under the chairmanship of Prof Vincent Dodd went into the preparation of draft standards." However, despite the fact that they were drawn up two years ago they have still not been published." he added.
Mr Ringrose said that, as a result, many organisations providing services for the elderly and disabled were setting their own standards. A "sizeable number" of organisations, he said, do not want to come under the kind of scrutiny that national requirements would impose.
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Man tells of battle to get his dying father moved to hospital
"My sister demanded he be admitted (to a hospital) and the staff eventually agreed to call an ambulance," said Tony yesterday after he received the report.
But the staff called a transfer ambulance and it was only after his sister, Isolde Hampson, threatened to bring him to hospital herself that the matron finally dialled 999.
They had been told his father - who was in the nursing home for two years - was suffering from a chest infection, fluid on the lungs and a possible touch of pneumonia.
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Nursing home residents still lacking basic safeguards
The HSE provided responses to all of Professor Des O'Neill's recommendations - most of them fully accepting his proposals to improve the system. However, at the end of the day, the HSE's hands are tied.
If Health Minister Mary Harney wants to protect older people in nursing homes and ensure they receive adequate care, far more dramatic measures are needed.
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O'Neill's findings will join long list of ignored reports
The common thread running through them all is simply this: safeguards are rarely in place.
Government and health services have failed to ensure that there is a line of communication, through regular and thorough inspections, properly trained and supported staff, and fully-informed management structures.
What is frightening about the O'Neill Report is that passages could have been taken verbatim from a report published only last week on privately run residential children's homes.
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