Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

Leas Cross serves as an example of the murky side of the care of the elderly but it can also serve as a very valuable lesson on how the system can and should be reconfigured to eliminate unacceptable circumstances, such as those in which older people are treated so badly. The example of Leas Cross proves conclusively, without any report, that the inspection system is not working. The rotten apple in the pile was Leas Cross and it was not detected.

It would be reassuring to believe there are no more Leas Crosses but unfortunately we cannot say there are none. What can we do? Promises made by Government to have an independent inspectorate must be honoured as soon as possible. An inspection system is also needed for the public sector because the Health Service Executive, as a service provider, is in a position in which it can check itself.

The service should be independent. The system must ensure that proper standards of care are maintained and this should be the primary focus of any inspection system. The over-bureaucratising of the inspection process must be resisted at all costs and minor matters must be regarded as such and good endeavour must be acknowledged properly. Since the Government has abdicated the care of older people to the private sector, it is doing less and less in getting rid of public beds.

Community facilities must be encouraged and acknowledged properly. Full care for older folks, and adequately supported care are so important. While the vast majority of private nursing homes are doing a fantastic job, on foot of the State abdicating responsibility to them by closing public facilities, there is an understandable element of cherry-picking because of the heavy demands of those who need very high levels of support.

I call for a special provision above and beyond what is available for enhanced subvention for community units with no profit margin written into the equation to ensure there is somewhere vulnerable people can go to receive a very high level of support in their own community. Currently such patients often end up in hospital and are sent out blindly therefrom to institutions which do not have adequate resources to look after them properly. It is not good enough to send people from institutions without seeing where they are going and ensuring they are looked after properly.

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