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Irish Examiner
12 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Does the latest nursing home scandal show that Hiqa is a regulator with no bite?
To read Hiqa's media statements during covid was to read measured reassurance from a health watch dog doing its job to the best of its ability in difficult circumstances. The reassuring tone was similar to the early days of its inception in July 2006 when its stated aim was to 'ensure delivery of high-quality services based on evidence-supported best practice'. It promised to 'work in partnership' with the expertise of the wider healthcare community including 'patients, clients and carers', healthcare professionals, the voluntary sector, the academic community and 'industry'. The views from this wide variety of stakeholders would be, Hiqa vowed at the time, 'key' to its plans for a bright new regulatory future for Irish health care. With thousands of reports by its inspectors and a gradual ramping up of - to its credit - better standards in nursing home care, what's there to criticize? After all, before it started regulating nursing homes in 2009, the infamous Leas Cross Nursing Home scandal in Dublin lead to the creation of Hiqa and a brave new world of regulation. Hiqa was created as a response to the infamous Leas Cross Nursing Home scandal in Dublin. File picture: Billy Higgins That scandal revealed similarly shocking treatment of residents that featured in RTÉ's most recent nursing home exposé which saw scenes of older people being forced into chairs or left in incontinence pads for so long their clothes were soaked. There was also footage of 80-year-old Audeon Guy being roughly handled at the Beneavin Manor nursing home in Glasnevin. A number of the subsequent comments last Tuesday by Professor Des O'Neill, who wrote the 2006 Leas Cross Review Report, related to Hiqa. 'As was obvious from the RTÉ documentary, and long clear to informed healthcare professionals, Hiqa cannot assure the public of appropriate and dignified care standards in Irish nursing homes, nor respond effectively and in a timely manner to grave concerns reported to it," he wrote in the Irish Times. People may well have scratched their heads and wondered what - after all these years - has gone wrong? However, there is a cohort of people who have long since stopped scratching their heads - those whose loved ones died in Hiqa-regulated nursing homes during the pandemic. They question whether Hiqa is little more than a toothless report-writing, box-ticking regulatory wonder. In RTÉ's most recent nursing home exposé there was footage of 80-year-old Audeon Guy being roughly handled at the Beneavin Manor nursing home in Glasnevin. Photo: © Its refusal to launch any statutory investigations into nursing homes during or immediately after covid - despite the fact that more than 1,500 residents died in nursing homes during the pandemic - is a case in point. Referencing Section 9 of the Health Act of 2007, a Hiqa spokesperson told the Irish Examiner in March 2021 it 'may' undertake an investigation as to the 'safety, quality and standards of services' if the authority believes 'on reasonable grounds' there was a serious risk to the health of residents. The act also states the minister of health 'may' require Hiqa to undertake an investigation if it believes there was a serious risk of harm to residents. Hiqa's statutory investigations Of the nine statutory investigations carried out by Hiqa up until March 2021, five were initiated after each case was covered by the media. A sixth was initiated after Hiqa had been in 'extensive engagement' over three years with the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin about concerns raised about acutely-ill patients being treated in a corridor next to its emergency department while waiting for an inpatient bed. Its statutory investigation was launched by Hiqa after a 64-year-old man - who had been cared for while in the corridor adjacent to the hospital's ED awaiting admission to an inpatient bed - died unexpectedly in March 2011. When asked in February 2022 about why it wouldn't initiate any statutory investigation into nursing homes, Hiqa said its statutory investigations 'do not carry any enforceable sanctions' and therefore 'could not be guaranteed to achieve improvements for resident care'. When asked by the Irish Examiner this week if it is fit for purpose, Hiqa replied: 'Hiqa is due in the Oireachtas Committee on Health next week, where we look forward to engaging with members to answer these and other questions.' Read More Hiqa to be quizzed by PAC about its oversight of nursing homes
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- Health
- The Irish Sun
Nursing home in RTE ‘abuse' doc scandal being probed by gardai following family ‘complaints' after ‘haunting scenes'
GARDAI have launched an investigation into one of the nursing homes at the centre of RTE's shocking exposé last week, the Irish Sun can reveal. An Advertisement 2 Tanaiste Simon Harris called on gardai to investigate the shocking incidents Credit: AFP 2 The RTE doc revealed patients being roughly handled in a nursing home Credit: RTE Press Office Issue Both nursing homes included in the investigation – The Residence in Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor in The family of one resident named Audeon Guy at Beneavin Manor have since gone public with their fury after footage showed their dad being roughly handled as he pleaded with staff to stop. Advertisement READ MORE IN IRISH NEWS A Garda spokesperson said: 'An Garda Siochana cannot comment on third party statements, or on named persons or businesses. 'An Garda Siochana has commenced an investigation following complaints received from a family relative of an older person.' The Irish Sun can confirm that the nursing home that gardai are now investigating is Beneavin Manor in Dublin. Earlier, Tanaiste Simon Harris called on gardai to investigate the shocking incidents exposed in the RTE documentary which he claimed amounted to abuse. Advertisement Most read in Irish News The 'There are laws in our land today. There are laws in relation to assault. AI robot nurse with creepy 'face' taking over hospital jobs as it patrols halls, delivers meds and tracks patient vitals "There are laws in relation to how we conduct ourselves and I would urge that a referral is made to An Garda Siochana in relation to the footage that we saw. 'Because what I saw with my own two eyes, the haunting scenes of people being, in my view, physically assaulted in their Advertisement 'I do think there is a need for a garda investigation into what we saw in relation to the individual actions of people in relation to that.' REGULATION ISSUES The Dublin TD questioned why Ireland does not have minimum staffing rules for nursing homes and criticised the government for allowing the sector to become dominated by big Advertisement The Minister is also expected to meet HIQA next week to discuss their policing of the nursing home sector amid criticism that the watchdog failed to pick up on the problems in the two homes in RTE's expose. Underfire HIQA bosses will also be hauled into a Dail committee next week to be grilled about their checks on nursing homes.
