Nursing home staff member: ‘I wouldn't put my mother here, even if it's my last breath'

Extra.ie​

5 days ago

A healthcare assistant working for the country's biggest nursing home operator told an undercover reporter she 'wouldn't put my mother here, even if it's my last breath', according to a new RTÉ documentary.
The staff member at a home owned by company Emeis, which runs 24 care homes here, was recorded by RTÉ Investigates saying she feels bad for the patients as 'they don't go out, all the activities are s***'.
Tonight's RTÉ Investigates – Inside Ireland's Nursing Homes uncovered staff shortages, improper patient care and experts warning of 'corners being cut' at homes in Portlaoise and Dublin, where secret filming took place. Nursing home. Pic: Getty Images
Undercover footage from the Beneavin campus in Glasnevin, Co Dublin, which costs an average of €1,400 a week, uncovered the treatment of an elderly man who was repeatedly left to lie in his own urine.
In one instance, a hidden camera in the man's room recorded a staff member telling the man at nighttime that he should simply use his incontinence pad and wait to be changed later because they were too short-staffed to help him to the toilet.
The heartbreaking footage shows him being left alone in the dark, calling out for help. The documentary heard from a panel of experts, with one remarking of the footage: 'That's quite distressing to watch, to think that that might be a loved one in one of our families.' Nursing home. Pic: Getty Images
Another incident with the same man saw him left in the busy dayroom for so long after soiling himself that his incontinence pad had soaked through to his clothes.
On a different day, the man's wet bedsheets were being changed by staff members who then realised there were no clean ones left and began sticking incontinence pads together into a makeshift sheet, with one joking: 'It's better than nothing.'
One staff member even told RTÉ's undercover reporter she 'wouldn't put my mother here, even if it's my last breath', and 'the system is f****d'. She said the nurse was too idealistic for trying to spend so much time with each patient. Nursing home. Pic: Getty Images
'It doesn't work like that. I was like you when I was younger, but then you see how the system is f****d.'
Emeis runs over 1,000 facilities in 20 countries and collected a revenue of € 5 billion last year, according to RTÉ.
One of the company's training managers from the head office was recorded telling staff at the Glasnevin home: 'God forbid if I was somebody that ended up in a nursing home. I hope not because we know what's coming. No matter how good the staff are, I want to be in control of my life.'
A HIQA report from February at the Portlaoise home found the residents 'sometimes experienced extended waiting times' for assistance because there weren't enough staff.
When the documentary was being made months later, the issue still wasn't addressed, with the undercover assistant finding an old woman calling out for help after being left alone on the toilet.
Emeis Ireland told RTÉ it 'acknowledges and sincerely apologises to residents and their families for the distress caused by the failings identified'.