The Information Commissioner has supported the right of the public to get the reports of health board inspections of nursing homes.
The decision marks a major advance in the rights of families. When seeking a nursing home for a relative, they will now be able to learn what was found by inspectors on their six-monthly visits.
It also means that where people believe something is amiss it will be easier to get information on the standards at the home. For instance, interested individuals, organisations and the media will be able to seek inspection reports, as well as correspondence and notes relating to inspections.
The new situation arises from a decision made by freedom of information officials of the North Eastern Health Board last year. They decided to release a report to a brother of a man who had died in a nursing home.
The owner of the nursing home objected but the NEHB decided to release the report in the public interest. The owner appealed to the Information Commissioner, Mr Kevin Murphy, but he supported the health board decision to release the report.
Mr Murphy noted that the report was critical of standards in the home and that a case could be made that its release could damage the home by deterring potential customers. But, he said, "in my view, there is a significant public interest in the public knowing how public bodies carry out inspections in individual cases and that the regulatory functions assigned to them achieve the purpose of the relevant regulations."
Mr Murphy's decision was welcomed yesterday by the director of the Carers' Association, Mr Eddie Collins-Hughes. He is in favour "of anything that gives the family a bit more information and control of the situation," he said.
But he noted that long-stay institutions run by the health boards are not subject to the same inspection regime as privately-run homes. "There also needs to be a system in place where people can see the quality of services provided by the State sector," he said.
Mr Joe Stanley, who runs a private nursing home in the west, reacted with caution to the news. While he was in favour of transparency, complaints about nursing homes range from the well meaning to the vexatious, he said.
The decision seems to make reports of inspections available to everybody, not just to those who had a bona fide interest in them, he said.
Mr Stanley also pointed out that there was no comparable system of inspection of publicly-run institutions for older people.
The Irish Times yesterday received an inspection report and correspondence concerning a nursing home chosen at random in the North Eastern Health Board region. Reports have also been sought from the other health boards and these requests are being processed.
The home, St Anthony's in Trim, Co Meath (which is not the home mentioned above) got a clean bill of health from the inspectors.
Email: pomorain@irish-times.ie
Weblink: http://www.irlgov.ie/oic/2282- 19a.htm (Information Commissioner's decision on access to records of nursing home inspections.)