Respect, decency, kindness ‘key’ for people in care

RESPECT, decency and kindness must be at the heart of any service provided to vulnerable people, Minister of State for Older People, Kathleen Lynch said yesterday.

“I speak to an awful lot of people who are service users and, amazingly, it is not the hi-tech therapies at all that it the issue for them — it is respect, decency and kindness,” she said. “People have to be paid for delivering a service but respect and consideration do not cost anything extra,” she said.

Ms Lynch said that, if she felt horrified about the alleged abuse at Rostrevor nursing home in Dublin, she could only imagine how the families of the residents felt. “I think our sympathies need to go to them,” she said.