Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Government decision which is a good news story. It will make a fundamental change in the way our elderly people are treated and how mistreatment of the elderly will be dealt with. There is a crisis of care in this country, in particular, with regard to our most vulnerable people such as children, people with disabilities or elderly citizens. A society is measured by how it looks after those who are weakest and most vulnerable and in that regard we have serious issues that need to be dealt with. HIQA is exposing many of the inadequacies of many of our public institutions and, hopefully it will now deal with private institutions as well.

I believe there is a significant and real deficit in our system. While this motion is welcome it will not necessarily be the complete answer. The love and the care that families bestow on their relatives who are being cared for in any of these institutions, is fantastic. I applaud their humanity, their concern and their dedication. They do their very best to look after the most vulnerable of our citizens. I also compliment the staff in institutions for their compassion and their personal dedication to their work. Nevertheless, over 700 complaints have been recorded in the private nursing homes sector. Not all of them are equally bad but many of them are appalling, disgraceful and shameful instances. The complaints include physical, financial and verbal abuse as well as sexual abuse. Very vulnerable people are dying in appalling and disgraceful circumstances. As the Minister of State acknowledged in her contribution, the problem is that HIQA cannot investigate those individual complaints. I gave all those complaints to the Garda Síochána and hopefully these are being investigated. However, when I contacted the Medical Council and An Bord Altranais, I was informed that these bodies cannot investigate those complaints because any complaint must include the name of the nurse or doctor involved. This must be changed so that where a complaint is made to the Ombudsman he can insist that the complaint be investigated by the Medical Council or An Bord Altranais, where applicable.

The Minister of State is aware of a case and I acknowledge her interest and that of her staff in it. Those involved in the case have been told that if they want to make a complaint they must provide the name of the nurse who may have abused the patient concerned. The complaint will not nor cannot be investigated until the name is provided. Notwithstanding the changes to the Ombudsman Act, there are significant other circumstances pertaining which still be addressed.

My concerns are serious and they relate to specific circumstances. They are administrative concerns if one can call this an administrative decision. I refer to three very vulnerable adults in the later stages of their lives, needing high level care for a terminal illness or who are not far from passing from this world. They were moved from a ward where they had been loved and cared for, in one case, for more than 12 years. The ward was closed down and they were moved. It was recommended that they should go to a particular private nursing home where the care would cost €210,000 for the three persons per annum. Somewhere in the system the decision was made not to transfer those vulnerable people to that institution of care which was deemed to be the best for them. Instead they were moved to a different ward in the HSE institution and where two of them died. These deaths are being investigated. I understand the Minister of State's Department is aware of their deaths and is aware of the concerns of the families. It is an appalling situation. When the coroner for Dublin heard the case in his court, he wrote to convey the concerns of the families to the hospital concerned. The letter was acknowledged but nothing happened. The letter went into the bin. People die because of administrative decisions. It is a shameful and disgraceful situation. I know the Minister of State is committed to examining this case and I await the outcome.

I regret this debate is so short but I am very happy that the changes for which I have campaigned are happening. I will raise with the Minister of State and in this House the outcome of these investigations which are about to commence. It is time for radical change. Our care system needs to be radically overhauled.

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