Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

This matter relates to nursing homes and the lack of enforcement of standards. Last week, we witnessed shocking scenes in the Residence nursing home in Portlaoise and the Beneavin nursing home in Dublin. I am sure the Minister of State is aware that there are other cases as well. We saw was: a shocking level of neglect; abusive behaviour; residents told to soil on incontinence pads; elderly, vulnerable residents left lying in urine for hours at night, calling for help but getting none; rough handling; shortages of sanitary goods and other basic items; and no assistance with eating, which is a major issue. There are 15 or 20 minutes allocated to getting people fed. Some of these people cannot feed themselves, so the food is not eaten. Then it is taken away as if they are not hungry that day, when they might be very hungry.

A former carer in Portlaoise nursing home has informed us that the RTÉ programme only touched the surface. She described at length what she saw during her time working in the nursing home over a number of years and outlined the appalling practices there. There are some shocking examples, and these occurred before anything came out on RTÉ. An elderly mother was looking to have her incontinence pad changed and, despite repeated requests, it did not happen. Her family eventually took her out of there. A man with Alzheimer's from another town in the county was recognised by a former neighbour walking around the town - he did not even know where he was - and contacted one of his family members. They got him back to the nursing home. He was wandering around and nobody had missed him. A plan was agreed and corrective measures were to be taken, but these were not implemented.

The protected disclosure was about a third nursing home. It was not about those two nursing homes at all. The person making the protected disclosure had to go to RTÉ because nothing was done for two years. The shortage of staff was not addressed. The abuse and neglect continued despite families bringing it to the attention of management and being assured that improvement plans would be put in place and it would be addressed. This did not happen.

Worst of all, the nursing home continued taking admissions despite being banned by HIQA. Where are the sanctions? There are none. HIQA has failed miserably. I had faith in HIQA up to about ten days ago. I have no faith in it now. I have lost all confidence in its ability to monitor care in nursing homes and enforce regulations and rules. Will we have a Garda investigation into some of the criminal activity we saw? Has HIQA issued financial penalties? Has it deregistered any of the nursing homes owned by these large companies. I understand that the one in this case owns 27 homes.

I met representatives from the Irish nursing home alliance today. They outlined that 77 small independent nursing homes have closed in the past five years. Most of this happened due to strict demands. HIQA holds such homes to the letter of the law in order to make sure they are closed. Ballard Lodge in Portlaoise, which was providing excellent care - I never heard a complaint against it - closed recently. That is one of the most recent casualties of HIQA standards. These smaller homes are being held to the standards. Abbeyleix public nursing home was almost closed 13 years ago because of HIQA demands, but a large public campaign that and others were involved in stopped it from happening. Thank God we kept it there. Why does it appear there is a more lackadaisical approach to the larger multiples such as that which we saw last week on the television? Have they got more clout? I do not know.

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