Nurses call for inquiry after elderly patient dies

The Psychiatric Nurses Association is calling for a full and independent inquiry into what it is calling a “Leas Cross” scenario, following the death of a woman recently moved from a psychiatric facility to a nursing home.

In a letter to Kathleen Lynch, the minister with responsibility for mental health, PNA Kerry branch secretary Cormac Williams outlined serious concerns about the ongoing movement of elderly patients from St Finan’s Psychiatric Hospital, Killarney.

The association has, in recent months, warned of the effects of transferring elderly patients out of the old hospital, long earmarked for closure, and deemed inappropriate.