Team to be put in place to safeguard against mistreatment

A NATIONWIDE team of elder abuse officers is to be in place by the end of the year to help safeguard against the kind of mistreatment patients at Leas Cross suffered.

Just six of the 32 specialist officers have been appointed so far but Aidan Browne of the Health Service Executive (HSE) said yesterday the remainder would be in situ by the end of next month.

However, responses to many of the concerns raised by Prof O’Neill’s report on the Leas Cross scandal remain a work in progress despite the fact that he submitted his report and 12 key recommendations to the HSE last April.