Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

What we saw in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme was very upsetting. The notion that anybody entrusts the loved one in their family, who is arguably at the most vulnerable stage in their life, to a home and they are treated in the way we saw them being treated is frightening as much as it is upsetting. The reality is that I talk to people every day who are in a situation where an elderly parent or elderly relative needs the kind of care that means they have to go into a nursing home. We are asking them to put their trust in a system that is clearly deficient in terms of the safeguards and checks in place.

I have been contacted by a constituent and I want to read what she said about her father's experience, albeit in a nursing home in County Wicklow, not in my constituency, but she lives in my constituency in Dún Laoghaire. She talks about the experience that he had towards the end of his life in that nursing home. What she has reported to me is quite shocking. She and her family were frequently ignored when they raised concerns with the nursing home about their father's well-being.

He had multiple urinary tract infections that went undiagnosed and untreated, meaning he was in significant discomfort, as well as the health risks this posed. His medication was not properly administered. He suffered from bed sores that were left untreated and not dealt with and we can imagine the pain and discomfort he would be in, lying in a bed and unable to help himself. The family raised concerns with the home and were repeatedly ignored. It was not until the family initiated legal action that they were listened to and interventions were taken by the staff in the care facility. The care facility failed to ensure he received proper food and water or that he consumed it. The staff failed to engage with the family about their father's health. The care facility failed to adequately deal with the physiotherapy needs of their father as well. There were consistent patterns of neglect and a lack of care. Even in his final days, the family struggled to get palliative care and painkillers to help their father. This is just one case, one constituent who emailed me. There are others and I have just chosen this from a number of emails.

What this brings home, and I know the Minister of State is alive to this and understands it, is the seriousness of this issue. I hope everybody in this Chamber reaches the age where they will need to rely on somebody and will need to rely on the care of people, so many of whom do such great work. I know, having dealt with carers in nursing homes, that they love the care they give to the elderly. We need to make sure every one of them does that, and where they do not and where they fall short, that there are consequences and, most importantly, action.

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