Ms Brigid Doherty:

At present, any complaint made about care in a nursing home is dealt with by the home itself which is not generally satisfactory for the complainant, family members or the resident themselves. The HSE safeguarding service does not have legislative authority to investigate complaints in private nursing homes. It has no obligation, either legal or contractual, to do so. Therefore residents in nursing homes do not have the support a person would have were he or she in a hospital or at home. My understanding is that under the current legislation, HIQA does not have legal powers to carry out investigations of individual complaints either. Therefore, the only option open - and it can be a good and satisfactory option - is to provide independent advocate support to support residents or their families through the complaints process. However, my experience in the past has been that the really good investigations have been where an independent investigator is appointed to investigate complaints within nursing homes. We need an independent advocacy service for nursing homes and I understand the National Patient Safety Office is exploring the rolling of that out from their new service but we need a process of investigation that is independent of the nursing home provider, be it private or public.