Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

I welcome this opportunity to address the issue of nursing homes. I am aware the Minister of State has taken an interest in it but there are major issues to be addressed. In this regard, I must raise the over-reliance on private nursing homes with him. It has increased. That 80% of nursing homes are now private has skewed things and left us at the mercy of the private sector. Unfortunately, some in the sector will abuse their position. We have seen terrifying examples of this in recent weeks.

The incidents of neglect and abuse have been well aired and I am not going to go over them again. I went over them previously in the Chamber. Despite the improvement plans and commitments given to both HIQA and the families, particularly regarding the residents in Portlaoise, they were not followed through on. The company in question breached the admission ban and continued to admit people after February even though it was told by HIQA not to. The time for change is long overdue.

I welcome the fact the issues at The Residence have been referred to An Garda Síochána. In this regard, HIQA has questions to answer. Whistleblowers' complaints were not acted on for two years. Not until we saw the RTÉ exposé did we start to become acquainted with these issues. There were 40 notifications of alleged abuse to HIQA in 18 months. What happened with those 40 notifications? What action was taken on them? There seems to have been very little. There was a five-month gap between some of the inspections in The Residence despite many problems piling up. There was no action taken on that. It is clear that improvement plans agreed with HIQA and the HSE were not acted on. That is simply not good enough while we are depending on these nursing homes. I met HIQA representatives on the issue of possible penalties. HIQA can halt admissions, prosecute and deregister, and it has a complaints system. Ultimately, cases can be filed with An Garda Síochána, as has happened in this case.

There is a report today on public nursing homes, one being in Mountmellick, County Laois. It is an old nursing home with a new wing being built onto it. If the Minister of State has any influence, he should push this on quicker. We need to get it opened. The nursing home received a glowing report. There were a few minor points here and there – nowhere will ever be perfect – but, overall, I could describe the report only as “glowing”. One resident told HIQA that there were so many activities that they had not time to get bored, and that people were very happy and content.

We must try to reduce dependency on nursing homes. Some people will have to go to a nursing home at some point, as most of us accept, although we hope it will never happen to us. Where we can at all support people at home, we must do it.

Portlaoise meals on wheels is starting up again. We have had no meals on wheels in Portlaoise for four years. Again, if the Minister of State has any influence, he should note the service will need funding. We have secured a kitchen and I have some involvement with the project. We need the service up and running and more supports for meals on wheels.

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