A body representing nursing home owners has called for a meeting with the chief executive of the Health Service Executive following confirmation today that the HSE has suspended new admissions to five nursing homes.
The Irish Nursing Homes Organisation questioned why the media appeared to have seen inspection reports for the homes, when the owners of the nursing homes had not.
Criticising the system of inspection for nursing homes, the body claimed there were no statutory minimum standards and the inspection process appears to be "ad hoc and vague".
The homes in Dublin and Wicklow have also been told they should not take in any new private admissions during the period of suspensions.
HSE statement
In a statement today the HSE said: "As Aidan Browne [national director of Primary Care Services] has emphasised in recent interviews, one of the significant improvements that he has introduced is to ensure that where concerns are raised by inspectors about a private nursing home no beds are then contracted by the HSE with that home until these issues are rectified.
"Furthermore, a home will also be advised not to take in privately referred admissions during this period.
"This is exactly what has happened in the cases mentioned this morning. In each of these cases, issues have been identified by our inspectors, and a process to ensure remedial action is actively under way," the statement concluded.
The Irish Nursing Homes Organisation, which represents nursing home owners, said it had lobbied successive governments and the HSE to introduce new legislation with the power to enforce all such facilities to operate "to the highest standards".
And the body questioned why the operators of nursing homes had not yet seen the inspection reports "when it appears the media has".
In a statement this evening, the body said "The manner in which the HSE has this week handled the cases of the five nursing homes to which new admissions have been suspended demonstrates precisely what is wrong with the current system. The current legislation is arbitrary and subjective. There are no statutory minimum standards and the inspection process appears to be ad hoc and vague.
"The INHO has said consistently over the past year that we want to work in partnership with the HSE to ensure that every nursing home resident in the country is receiving the care they are entitled to. A fair and objective inspection process that takes action against homes that do not meet clearly defined standards is a central part of that."
"We question the reason why the operators of the nursing homes have not yet seen the inspection reports when it appears as if the media has. Is the HSE bowing to media and public pressure to be seen to be tough on nursing homes?"
The body said it would not defend nursing homes that do not operate to the highest standards.
"We expect the HSE to be tough on nursing homes that fail to operate to the highest standards but it is only fair that proper procedures are followed. As part of its discussions with the Nursing Homes Consultative Committee the HSE agreed that nursing home operators would be give ten days to respond to their report. Today, not only have the operators not been given the chance to respond they have not yet seen the report.
The body said it had sought a meeting with HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm to clarify the procedures around the releasing of details of inspection reports to the public.
Dr Tracey Cooper, chief executive of the Interim Independent Health Information and Quality Authority, the body responsible for future nursing home inspections, said today the current system needs strengthening.
Speaking in the Dáil, the Tánaiste Michael McDowell ruled out emergency legislation to regulate nursing homes. Mr McDowell said the Health Bill 2006 will be published in the next month and will be debated in early 2007.
The Labour Party had claimed that there were currently no laws in place to protect the elderly from institutional abuse.
"Can we not have emergency legislation to give some power to the Health Information & Quality Authority?" asked Labour deputy leader Liz McManus.
"You may recall this House was recalled to bring in emergency legislation to bail out Larry Goodman. Are we not in a position now to protect our elderly with emergency legislation?"
Mr McDowell said: "The idea that we should now throw that proposal aside and introduce an emergency bill, I don't think it's a good idea," he said.
In another development, the Leas Cross Victims' and Relatives' Action Group is to hold a news conference next Monday to raise what it says are "serious questions of public interest".
Leas Cross nursing home in Swords, Co Dublin, was shut down last year after an RTÉ Prime Timeinvestigation exposed deficiencies in the care of elderly people living there. The group has called on families with experiences of Leas Cross to contact it.