Let’s spot the bully among carers

PARTS of the Leas Cross nursing home report make frightening reading. It has a chilling echo of another time in Ireland when life went on as normal outside the industrial schools that contained and facilitated the living nightmare of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

Though we have hopefully moved on since then, it is evident bullies and abusers are still out there. Today, it is senior citizens who in many cases find themselves at the mercy of cruelty or neglect, as evidenced by the Leas Cross scandal and other exposés.

Relatives of all people who reside in nursing homes or sheltered housing complexes should ensure that their loved ones are being well looked after. Both forms of care are open to abuse, and have been abused.