An independent review of deaths at the Leas Cross nursing home in north Dublin over a five-year period has found none of the deaths were preventable.
However, it recommends the Department of Health establish a clear policy in relation to care of the elderly and that a national monitoring system for vulnerable patients be established.
It also says that a proper ratio of trained staff to patients must be in place in all nursing homes and that a statutory nursing home inspectorate must be put in place for public as well as private nursing homes.
The report was commissioned by the Health Service Executive (HSE) over a year ago after it moved patients out of Leas Cross following the highlighting of the manner in which patients in it were treated in undercover film footage shown on a Primetime Investigates programme.
However, to date the HSE has refused to publish the report, which is understood to be critical of health service management, or to release it under the Freedom of Information Act.
RTÉ News reported last night that the report identified 105 patients who died at Leas Cross, or shortly after transfer from the private nursing home to hospital, between 2000 and August 2005, when it closed.
The review also said that while the annual mortality rate at 38 per cent was somewhat higher than might be expected, it did not find that any of the deaths were preventable. The home, it said, had an inadequate number of suitably trained staff. Furthermore, it says what occurred at Leas Cross cannot be assumed to have been an isolated incident.
Last June, the HSE said it had formed a team to devise a plan for the implementation of recommendations contained in reports carried out on Leas Cross.
Labour party spokesman Sean Ryan called last night for the report's immediate publication.