Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

If people are means tested, at least we then know they cannot afford to obtain entry to private nursing homes. People are queuing up to gain entry to public nursing homes.

The team from the HSE informed us that unannounced inspections are taking place. I agree with the carrying out of such inspections, but I have a slight reservation in respect of them. Inspection teams are made up of three people, namely, a nurse, a doctor and an environmental health officer. In my opinion, lay people should also comprise part of the inspection teams and I would like to hear the Minister of State's views in that regard. Lay people often notice things professionals may not notice.

Unannounced inspections are being carried out day and night. If an inspection team interviews an elderly patient, he or she may have very good reasons for not talking. For example, he or she may be afraid do so for fear of being seen as complaining. In addition, that person might fear subsequent reprisals. If a member of such an individual's family could be present, he or she could speak on his or her relative's behalf.

A total of 666 inspections were carried out in the period from January to October. Private nursing homes are continually assessed and those involved in carrying out inspections were happy to state that there is no immediate risk to residents in any of these homes. Private nursing homes are being monitored around the clock and any action deemed necessary in respect of them will be taken.

I asked Mr. Aidan Browne if a bad report relating to a nursing home would be published and how this would be done. He stated that nursing homes which receive such reports are obliged to publish them in their reception areas. I pulled him up on this because I am of the opinion that the word "obliged" is not strong enough. If one is obliged to do something, it means one is not really being asked to do something and that it is up to oneself to do it. There is an obligation but one may not take action. I informed Mr. Aidan Browne that these bad reports should be posted on the Internet or sent to people who are considering placing their loved ones in such homes or to the families of people who are already resident in them.

I was interested to discover that the HSE forwarded a copy of Professor O'Neill's report to the Garda Síochána, An Bord Altranais and the Medical Council. As a former member of the two regulatory bodies, I asked if a formal complaint had been made. I was informed that formal complaints have been made to the Medical Council and to An Bord Altranais. That is quite a serious development. There must be suspicions that certain individuals have questions to answer or that they may have been guilty of professional misconduct.

In fairness to them, the members of the team that appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children admitted that some nursing homes cut corners. Those who run certain homes are extremely conscious of profit margins. However, it is important to note that many nursing home proprietors provide high-quality care and their facilities operate to high standards. Many nursing homes with which I am familiar are vocationally driven to deliver quality care and go out of their way to ensure elderly patients are well looked after.

Out of the 436 private nursing homes in operation — it is only to such homes that we are referring in this debate — questions arise in respect of between eight and 12. It is a small number but it is eight or 12 to many. We must adopt a balanced approach. Older people listen to the kind of scaremongering in which individuals engage to score political points and those politicians who engage in such scaremongering do not realise how frightening their words are for the elderly. If I were an old person considering entering a nursing home, I would be terrified by the way Opposition politicians shout——