Authorities had Leas Cross report before TV exposé

THE health authorities had a highly critical report on the Leas Cross nursing home in Dublin almost a full year before a television programme exposed substandard conditions there, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has confirmed.

The consultant’s report was received by the then Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) last autumn, Bertie Ahern told the Dáil, and was “very critical and raised very serious issues”.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who had raised the matter, asked the Taoiseach to confirm that the report “raised serious questions about the level of care” in the nursing home. He also asked if it was correct that the report “drew attention to the unusually high number of deaths of patients” transferred to Leas Cross from a nearby psychiatric facility.