Harney to meet Leas Cross relatives

RELATIVES of former residents of the notorious Leas Cross nursing home will meet Health Minister Mary Harney for the first time today.

Following the damning report by consultant Professor Des O’Neill into conditions at the north Dublin facility, relatives will today push for a full inquiry into how family members were transferred to and treated at the home.

Mary Hegarty, whose mother Kitty Mullins died a month after being taken out of Leas Cross in 2004, said an inquiry was the only way forward.

“We are very focused. An independent inquiry is what we’ve been looking for, it’s our main objective, to find out what happened at Leas Cross, why (it happened) and who made the decisions. We’re not going to go away until we get these answers. We hope the minister will do the right thing.”

The Leas Cross Death Relatives Action Group now has 23 families in its organisation. Most of these will be represented when relatives meet Minister Harney this afternoon.

Relatives have said health executives were aware of deficiencies at Leas Cross nursing home for eight years but failed to act, which resulted in “something very evil” happening.

A number of questions remain, according to the action group. These include:

* Who originally financed the north Dublin home?

* What is the corporate structure behind it and who are they?

* The circumstances behind patient transfers from St Ita’s.

* Did staff at Beaumont hospital raise concerns about the frequent referral of patients there?

Health executives passed the O’Neill report to the Irish Medical Council and Bord Altranais, the two governing bodies of doctors and nurses respectively. Families have now been told though, this is not enough. Individual complaints and submissions must be made by them for any sanctions or inquiry to proceed. Relatives are now trawling through records, letters and compiling complaints for the two bodies.

The action group has welcomed home inspection measures announced earlier last week, which will see public as well as private homes face rigorous checks.

Relatives of Leas Cross residents are angry though. Almost €5 million was paid to the Swords home’s owners in subsidies and bed costs, as revealed by the Irish Examiner last week, despite continued inspection concerns.

Ms Harney’s spokesman last night said she was open to discussion today with the action group.

“This is the first meeting since the O’Neill report was published. She wants to hear what the group have to say and gauge their reaction.”

The Health Service Executive has also written to more than 100 relatives of former Leas Cross residents offering them meetings.