The Health Service Executive (HSE) has said it will ensure that an independent inspection is carried out as soon as possible on a Dublin nursing home in which an elderly woman died under distressing circumstances.
The inspection on Lucan Lodge nursing home, it said, would be carried out by its own inspectors, but they would be from a different region.
An inquest on Tuesday into the death of the 98-year-old woman at the home on May 28th last year heard that an undertaker was so concerned about the condition of her body that he had contacted the coroner.
Dublin county coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty said that the cause of Elizabeth Donovan's death was pneumonia with associated skin ulceration, cystitis and dehydration. He recorded a verdict of medical misadventure.
Dr Geraghty said Mrs Donovan had such extensive skin ulceration that she should have been seen by a doctor. However, she had not been seen by a doctor for six weeks before her death.
The coroner said that he would be writing to the HSE to request an immediate inspection of the home.
Yesterday, the HSE, in a short statement, said: "The HSE will carry out an inspection of Lucan Lodge independent of the local area office. The inspection will be organised as soon as possible. There will be no further comment until after the inspection is completed."
According to the HSE website, Lucan Lodge nursing home was inspected in August 2006, a few months after the death of Mrs Donovan. It had 69 residents at that time and was found to be in compliance with nursing home regulations.
A more recent inspection of the home is also understood to have found it to be in compliance with regulations, but this report has yet to be published.
Meanwhile, Age Action Ireland has called for a full investigation of all the circumstances surrounding Mrs Donovan's death at the nursing home. "The results of this investigation must be made public in order to reassure the public and those currently resident in nursing homes," said spokesman Eamon Timmins.
He added that nursing home residents still do not have any greater protection than they did on the night Prime Time broadcast an exposé on the substandard conditions at Leas Cross nursing home in May, 2005.
"The new independent inspectorate is not expected to be up and running until later this year. The Health Information and Quality Authority - which will run the inspectorate - is currently working to finalise the draft standards for nursing homes, which were published by the Government earlier this year," he said.
No one from Lucan Lodge was available for comment last night.