Sir, – There was the scandal of Leas Cross in 2005 and the subsequent outrage that “we didn’t know” and then the introduction of inspections of “nursing homes”. Yet here we have yet another scandal in the Owen Riff nursing home in Galway where residents had not had a bath or a shower for close to a month along with the other disgraceful shortcomings set out in the Hiqa report (Home News, August 21st).
While there are robust inspections by the Mental Health Commission of St Joseph’s Intellectual Disability Service, Portrane, and other statutory intellectual disability services. The position still remains as pointed out by your reporter Carl O’Brien only last week (Opinion, August 17th) that there are still no inspections of voluntary and private intellectual disability facilities in this country. Is it the case that parents, siblings, and all those connected with residents in these facilities should assume that standards are upheld and everything is done to meet these standards?
The Minister of State Kathleen Lynch and the Government must carry out their commitment and stick to the target date of January 2013 to introduce independent inspections by Hiqa. Do we have to wait for another Prime Time programme to expose another scandal, and we all cry again “well we didn’t know”.
My God, the warning signs are out there screaming at us. – Yours, etc,