Patients must be warned of sub-standard nursing homes, says Kenny

VULNERABLE pensioners are being put at risk of abuse because the Government refuses to “name and shame” nursing homes the HSE knows are sub-standard, Fine Gael claimed last night.

Party leader Enda Kenny said patients and their families needed to be urgently warned about the poor conditions in order to avoid a repeat of the Leas Cross scandal.

The HSE uncovered low standards in a number of homes during a tendering process for the private sector to provide 100 dependency beds last year, Mr Kenny told the Dáil. He added that the yet to be published O’Neill Report into the 95 deaths at Leas Cross specifically calls on the HSE to warn patients and their relatives urgently of such revelations.