Sir, - I would like to respond to Padraig O'Moran's article (The Irish Times, January 3rd), about the care of elderly people in nursing homes. As a qualified nurse, currently working in a nursing home, I very much resent my place of work being referred to as a "step-down facility".
This presumably refers to the fact that nursing homes can't have all the facilities of a general hospital. We all know that, and also that government funding is desperately required if this is even to be partly rectified.
However, patients are cared for with a great deal of understanding, expertise, devotion and dedication.
Mr O'Moran's overall condemnation of nursing homes based on one incident concerning a near relative is unbalanced, inaccurate and highly offensive. - Yours, etc.,
Sheila Whelan, SRN, SCM, Wilfield Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4.