Nursing home report - Who wanted this buried?

ONE of Tony Blair’s staff — Jo Moore — earned a degree of infamy for herself and her profession on 9/11. As the World Trade Centre collapsed killing thousands, she described it as “a good day to bury bad news”.

We had our own Jo Moore moment yesterday when the long-awaited report of the inquiry into the Leas Cross nursing home in Co Dublin was published.

Inevitably the publication was overshadowed by An Bord Snip Nua’s proposals. It is hard not to suspect that there was an attempt at news management. Why could publication not have been deferred for even a few days?

The report found that a failure to employ a sufficient staff led to a serious deterioration in the standard of care in the two years before the home closed in 2005. It also found that inspections and complaints going back over a number of years should have alerted the HSE to problems at the home.

Now, who would want to keep those findings out of the spotlight?