Nursing homes - We all have a duty of care and vigilance

THAT hackneyed, black-humour warning seen on car stickers — “Be nice to your children, after all they will choose your nursing home” — has taken on a macabre relevance.

Three years after the nursing home abuse scandal of Leas Cross, where neglect was institutionalised and the elderly residents were treated like cattle, the Health Services Executive (HSE) has upheld 50 complaints against nursing homes.

In one instance of callous indifference, at Hillcrest House nursing home in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, a woman fell last summer, and though she complained of severe pain she was not admitted to hospital for two months. Medical staff diagnosed a broken shoulder.