Nursing home checklist - Vulnerable will finally be protected

NOT before time, the treatment of elderly people in nursing homes up and down the country is finally coming under the microscope.

Under a 106-point checklist, a welcome measure of protection will in future be afforded to some of the most vulnerable people in Irish society.

Regrettably, while this represents a move in the right direction, it is only a stop-gap measure as an independent inspectorate will not be established until next year.

Following the shocking evidence of abuse inflicted on elderly residents in homes run by rogue owners, the measures will ensure nurses are properly qualified, restraint records are fully kept, and bedside equipment is up to standard.

Successive governments must accept blame for failing to police nursing homes adequately. What passed for an inspection process is a damning indictment of a system under which old age pensioners were robbed by the State and a blind eye was turned to outrageous abuse of people in their twilight years.