Leas Cross - Overhaul of care system is urgent

FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny has done the right thing by reading sections of the draft report on the Leas Cross nursing home scandal into the Dáil record.

Published today under parliamentary privilege, the document was withheld by the Health Service Executive to give right of reply to those criticised.

In his scathing report, Professor Desmond O’Neill found systematic failure by Government, health boards and professional bodies to address the issue of appropriate quality of care for older people.

Referring specifically to Leas Cross, he found the level of care deficient at many levels and suggests such standards are likely to be replicated to a greater or lesser extent in institutions throughout the long-care system.

The inescapable conclusion is that institutional abuse is widespread. A major overhaul of the system is urgently needed. Those responsible must be held to account.