Nursing home scandal - Elderly being demeaned by State

IF the measure of a civilised society is how it cares for its senior citizens, then Ireland comes very badly out of an assessment based on that revealing yardstick.

In yet another shameful example of the State’s cold-hearted attitude towards elderly people, we learn today that a health board which was told three years ago it should not be charging elderly patients in nursing homes for incontinence wear has persisted in doing so.

Besides demeaning the patients, the practice pursued by the Southern Health Board represents a mean-spirited charge which is costing pensioners around €2 million a year.

The board, which oversees Cork and Kerry, is the only health authority in the country which does not fund personal hygiene products for medical card holders in private nursing homes.

According to the Irish Nursing Homes Organisation (INHO) an incontinent person spends up to €1,314 per year on the hygiene pads.

This truly shocking revelation comes hot on the heels of the ongoing controversy over the Government’s miserly attitude in presiding over a system where illegal charges have been levied for decades on medical card holders for their care in nursing homes.

What has outraged the public is the fact that after the practice was revealed by this newspaper the Coalition rushed through legislation to legalise a totally unlawful process which had gone on unchecked for years.

In what can only be described as a cynical compo gesture, the Government has offered to give each elderly patient €2,000.

In yet another disturbing aspect of this scandal, fully a year-and-a-half after it was told it was breaking the law, the Government was still dipping into pensioners’ pockets and taking their money.

And with an investigation pending on how the malpractice was allowed to go on for so long, an unedifying game of political buck-passing has begun.

Documents released by Health Minister Mary Harney make it clear that responsibility for this political hot potato lies squarely on the desk of her predecessor, Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin.

But with Mr Martin doing a Pontius Pilate act, claiming he not there when the matter was aired at a meeting, the buck has landed in the lap of Junior Minister Ivor Callely, who then served elderly people.

In the public interest it is absolutely vital that questions should not be swept under the carpet.

The spotlight should focus on why warnings about the legality of the charges were not acted upon, why the minister was in the dark, and why the advice of the Attorney General was not sought.

Meanwhile, charges imposed on incontinent patients by the Southern Health Board have persisted despite an INHO claim that it informed the Department of Health of the situation in early 2002.

On the face of it, this would appear to be yet another instance of officialdom sitting on its hands. It is hard to exaggerate the impact of this grossly unfair charge on elderly people who are dependent on the meagre old age pension.

Of the 2,167 private nursing homes beds in Cork and Kerry, up to 80% of the occupants could be incontinent due to illnesses and old age.

This outrageous treatment of the elderly underlines the image of the State as uncaring or incompetent, or both. Such scandals fly in the face of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s belated attempt to portray a more caring Government than the public has seen up to now.