Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)

It is important that we address the issues presented by RTÉ. Despite the failings of RTÉ in the past, it has done a remarkably good job bringing this to light. It was not pleasant viewing, as I understand. I did not see it myself. I saw the images advertising the “RTÉ Investigates” programme.

I have had the benefit of visiting quite a number of nursing homes. Some of them are run extraordinarily brilliantly, with extraordinary staff. It would be wrong of us to think that there are failings in every nursing home. I have to say that to be fair and honest.

One of the things that always concerns me is when hearing stories about the difficulties some nursing homes have with recruiting staff. One can sometimes employ somebody who would be seen to be doing a good job but who may not be in any way suitable for a position that requires him or her to be empathetic and sympathetic and to fill a caring role. I suspect that nursing homes sometimes just feel that such persons might fill that gap "for now". If the employee is not suitable, that is where there are issues.

Respectfully, are visitations conducted by HIQA unannounced rather than prepared like one would do for any inspection? It one gets the heads up, of course everything will be grand. It is the same as if it were a ministerial visit or any other visit. It is important that there be random, unannounced visitations. I was going to suggest that nursing homes be monitored with CCTV. That probably would be an invasion of privacy, a breach of GDPR and all that kind of stuff.

One of the things we need to ensure is that we never again see something like this or hear about the level of abuse in nursing homes that we did in this programme. The only way to do that is to make sure there are strict guidelines and strict policing in terms of the type of people employed and their suitability to do the job. No matter what position is available, people should be interviewed for their suitability for the position. It is my gut feeling that one of the things that probably has happened as a consequence of the difficulties in employing suitable staff is that nursing homes may often have no other choice but to employ people who want a job rather than want this specific job in the caring field.

I would like to think that somewhere in the future there will be unannounced visitations. In other words, rather than RTÉ finding out, HIQA inspectors or some form of police would be the first to identify if there were some failings or shortcomings.

It really upsets me and everybody else when we hear of the cases of neglect where people were left unchanged for long periods and all that kind of stuff. It is tormenting when one hears that some people suggest they made contact with HIQA and HIQA asked whether they had contacted or made a complaint to the nursing home. It is a case of asking my brother if am I a liar. The nursing homes are sure to tell their side of the story. The policing needs to be there. That is the only way we can get a result that ensures that nursing homes are managed and the patients are cared for. As Ms Fitzgerald referenced, when people are left in a nursing home, it must replicate where they came from, that is, home, where their every need is met with dignity and respect. If they do not get that, then it should lose its title as a nursing home.