700 care home abuse claims go to gardaí

A Government TD has sent a file of some 700 allegations of mistreatment and bad practices at nursing and care homes to An Garda Síochána.

Louth Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd received the complaints following a number of Freedom of Information requests to the Health Information and Quality Authority.

Mr O’Dowd said he passed the information onto the gardaí, as Hiqa does not have the power to investigate individual complaints, a shortcoming he says he hopes to address by introducing an amendment to the relevant Act in the Dáil this week.

“Some of the issues there are serious and are a matter for the gardaí,” he said.

“Hiqa can only note the complaint and instruct the complainant to refer the matter to whoever is responsible for the nursing home, which is either the HSE or a private operator. Residents are fearful of being turfed out of their home for making a complaint, while staff fear for their jobs if they go to whoever is in charge.”

Among the claims of poor care, neglect, bad hygiene, and questionable staff practices, it is alleged that:

- Management at one facility took no action against a staff member who was drunk repeatedly on duty;

- The nurse manager at one home did not register the death of a resident for a number of days;

- A resident who suffered multiple falls, acute bedsores, and dehydration was neglected, which led to their family removing them from the home;

- One facility’s end-of-life care was “non-existent” and staffing levels were “dreadful”, causing one nurse to quit;

- Only two members of staff were found on duty at one home on St Patrick’s Day;

- A doctor refused to come to one home to treat patients, as he was only being paid for fewer than half of the patients he had at the facility;

- A resident waited over two months for their home to make changes to their medication as had been prescribed by a heart specialist;

- A resident who was incontinent was found covered in faeces and in a distressed state when visited by a relative;

- A resident of one home received a termination notice after a relative complained about the quality of care;

- The cook in one home carried out other duties, including unblocking a toilet, before returning to the kitchen to prepare meals.

One of the complaints of bad hygiene includes an allegation that a staff member at a home emptied a commode into the sink and bath of a resident’s bathroom.

“There are very serious abuses going on, there’s no doubt about it. While these are all allegations, some of the claims are frightening,” Mr O’Dowd told the Irish Examiner last night.