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Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
Cork TD calls for HIQA to appear before PAC following ‘appalling' footage on RTÉ Investigates programme
The footage in RTÉ Investigates – Inside Ireland's Nursing Homes which was broadcast on Wednesday, June 4 details a litany of failings in two homes run by Emeis Ireland, formerly Orpea. The French-owned company has 27 privately-run facilities here, providing more than 2,400 beds. After concerns were raised by several whistleblowers, RTÉ sent two undercover researchers to apply for healthcare assistant roles. They obtained footage from The Residence Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor in Glasnevin, Dublin. Among the breaches detailed were inadequate staffing levels, which at times left one employee looking after 23 residents, and people being refused help to go to the toilet. HIQA has subsequently confirmed that it stopped admissions to the nursing home in Laois prior to the programme being aired. Labour Party TD for Cork North Central Eoghan Kenny expressed concerns that the RTÉ Investigates programme into nursing home care represents but a drop in the ocean of failures across care of older people. Deputy Kenny who is a member of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee said HIQA have not appeared before the PAC since 2017. 'Given the huge systemic issues within the organisation detailed by RTÉ, I will be proposing inviting HIQA to the PAC with my committee colleagues. The fact that HIQA took over four months to investigate issues identified by RTÉ is beyond belief. We are talking about care of our much loved older people who deserve dignity as they age." 'What we witnessed was utterly appalling,' said Deputy Kenny. 'Credit is due to RTÉ for highlighting this issue. Staff members from other homes have made contact with my office to express their concerns about practices being replicated in their workplace. 'HIQA are failing in their statutory remit to investigate and resolve issues when they arise locally. Given the scale and the nature of what was exposed, it is crucial that we examine in detail the procedures and potential gaps within HIQA to address these urgently. The PAC could work constructively with HIQA representatives on this,' he added. The Cork TD said accountability is 'crucial' to ensure the most vulnerable are protected 'HIQA have a fundamental role to play in ensuring this happens. Accountability is crucial, but so too is ensuring procedures and processes are in place to protect the vulnerable in our society. It's vital that we have the highest standards of care for older people. HIQA have a fundamental role to play in ensuring this happens.'
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
Calls for HIQA to appear before PAC for first time since 2017 – Cork TD critical of their failure to resolve issues
The footage in RTÉ Investigates – Inside Ireland's Nursing Homes which was broadcast on Wednesday, June 4 details a litany of failings in two homes run by Emeis Ireland, formerly Orpea. The French-owned company has 27 privately-run facilities here, providing more than 2,400 beds. After concerns were raised by several whistleblowers, RTÉ sent two undercover researchers to apply for healthcare assistant roles. They obtained footage from The Residence Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor in Glasnevin, Dublin. Among the breaches detailed were inadequate staffing levels, which at times left one employee looking after 23 residents, and people being refused help to go to the toilet. HIQA has subsequently confirmed that it stopped admissions to the nursing home in Laois prior to the programme being aired. Labour Party TD for Cork North Central Eoghan Kenny expressed concerns that the RTÉ Investigates programme into nursing home care represents but a drop in the ocean of failures across care of older people. Deputy Kenny who is a member of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee said HIQA have not appeared before the PAC since 2017. 'Given the huge systemic issues within the organisation detailed by RTÉ, I will be proposing inviting HIQA to the PAC with my committee colleagues. The fact that HIQA took over four months to investigate issues identified by RTÉ is beyond belief. We are talking about care of our much loved older people who deserve dignity as they age." 'What we witnessed was utterly appalling,' said Deputy Kenny. 'Credit is due to RTÉ for highlighting this issue. Staff members from other homes have made contact with my office to express their concerns about practices being replicated in their workplace. 'HIQA are failing in their statutory remit to investigate and resolve issues when they arise locally. Given the scale and the nature of what was exposed, it is crucial that we examine in detail the procedures and potential gaps within HIQA to address these urgently. The PAC could work constructively with HIQA representatives on this,' he added. The Cork TD said accountability is 'crucial' to ensure the most vulnerable are protected 'HIQA have a fundamental role to play in ensuring this happens. Accountability is crucial, but so too is ensuring procedures and processes are in place to protect the vulnerable in our society. It's vital that we have the highest standards of care for older people. HIQA have a fundamental role to play in ensuring this happens.'
Irish Examiner
5 days ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Taoiseach ‘shocked' by nursing home abuse uncovered in RTÉ investigation
The Taoiseach has said he is "very, very concerned" about care practices in nursing homes. Micheál Martin was speaking ahead of an RTÉ Investigates programme airing tonight, which exposes dire conditions in some privately run facilities. The programme, Inside Ireland's Nursing Homes, features reporters going undercover at two homes: The Residence in Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor in north Dublin. It details a litany of disturbing practices, including: A man being refused a toilet break for 25 minutes due to chronic understaffing A resident repeatedly left in an unchanged incontinence pad despite being able to use the toilet and having requests to do so denied 'Fake' activity logs created to show residents engaged in pursuits that never occurred When asked in Dublin today whether it was acceptable for facilities charging between €1,320 and €1,514 per week to treat older patients this way, Mr Martin said early reports from the programme were alarming. "I'm very, very concerned about it. I think it's shocking what is likely to be revealed following the reports I've seen so far," he said. "I've observed two professors with considerable experience in geriatric medicine and dermatology express their shock and also their very clear observations that this is fundamentally abuse of senior citizens in those nursing homes." Mr Martin said the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), which oversees nursing homes, is "doing a lot of work to ensure compliance" and has already engaged with the homes featured in the programme. The Taoiseach also noted that the number of people in nursing homes is declining as a proportion of the overall population. "In other words, the policies of home care, the policies of enhancing collective capacity of people to stay at home and to stay out of nursing homes for longer periods, means we have to double down on those policies in terms of home care solutions, in terms of healthcare lifestyle and so on. "So that's working, but that said, there will be times when people who've no option but to go to nursing homes. And it should be the best possible experience." The investigation also shows staff at both facilities ignoring care plans for frail residents, which state that residents should only be moved using hoists. Instead, staff are seen manually lifting residents by their arms or trouser belts — actions explicitly forbidden under manual handling protocols. Read More Investigation shows dire practices at privately-run nursing homes
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
'RTÉ investigates' shows dire practices in privately-run nursing homes
Residents at two privately-run Irish nursing homes were left to sit in their own urine and subjected to manhandling by staff, among many other abuses, a bombshell new investigation shows. RTÉ Investigates will tonight broadcast Inside Ireland's Nursing Homes, the result of a months-long undercover investigation at two nursing homes — The Residence in Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor in north Dublin City. The programme details a litany of questionable behaviour and practices, including: A resident with mobility challenges being left on their own in a bathroom; A man being refused a toilet break for 25 minutes due to chronic understaffing; A frail female resident with dementia, considered a serious fall risk, being left alone on the edge of her bed for several minutes at night while confused and agitated and seeking a toilet break; A man repeatedly being left sitting in an unchanged incontinence pad despite still being able to use a toilet and having requests to do so denied; 'Fake' lists of activities created for residents' logs in order to show their time as occupied by pursuits, when the sole activity noted for residents was watching television. The cost for a resident staying at the two homes in question is €1,320 and €1,514 per week. The investigation will likely lead to renewed calls for Ireland to enact an adult safeguarding law — which was promised after a similar scandal at the Leas Cross nursing home in north Dublin in 2005, but which has never introduced. The investigation also found that understaffing is endemic at the two homes, which are run by French corporate Emeis. It has been the subject of similar scandals in France in the past five years. The undercover investigation shows one staff member typically assigned to care for more than 20 residents at a time, particularly at night. This means that residents cannot be brought to the bathroom or taken outside for exercise and are typically confined to one overcrowded room. The scene involving the frail female dementia payment is particularly distressing — with the lady in question calling for help for several minutes before finally being attended to by a nurse. Another shows a healthcare assistant declaring that 'these bells are driving me mad' as assistance bells ring out across a corridor in the Portlaoise home, with no staff available to answer them. Staff are informed that if all incontinence pads in their itinerary are used, they will have to make do with 'what's there'. A nurse is heard on camera objecting to this practice, noting that 'incorrect incontinence wear is a form of abuse'. The practice of 'double-padding' — placing two incontinence pads on a person in order to double the amount of moisture to be collected, which can lead to pressure sores — is also depicted in detail. The investigation also shows multiple staff at the two homes ignoring care plans indicating that frail residents should only be moved using hoists, with manual handling forbidden. Instead, staff are seen moving residents by gripping them under their arms or by their trouser belts. Neither Emeis nor the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) had replied to a request for comment at the time of publication. Hiqa had repeatedly inspected the two homes featured in recent years. The most recent inspection of the Portlaoise home found that the institution was 'short-staffed', with some residents who were at a high risk of malnutrition. Emeis told RTÉ that the evidence of poor care standards, handling care plans being ignored, and the lack of dignity afforded to residents is 'deeply distressing', adding that it 'does not tolerate any individual or systemic neglect or practices'. Addressing the evidence uncovered by the investigators, David Robinson, a consultant geriatrician at St James Hospital in Dublin, said the situation is 'about abuse'. 'There is no other word for it, really,' he said. 'This is going to shorten people's lives and the lives that they have will be more miserable because of the situation that they're in,' said Prof Robinson. Read More Home care regulation will reduce choice and boost big firms' profits
