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RESIDENTS IN A nursing home suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their carers and were refused showers and left short of food, according to claims in newly released documents.
In a complaint to the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), a resident in a nursing home said that they had suffered “emotional and physical bullying”.
The complainant said that residents at the home were refused water due to the risk of them getting wet; that they were left short of food because the staff ate it; and that the staff were negligent and inattentive.
The claims are contained in documents released to TheJournal.ie under the Freedom of Information Act.
The documents detail complaints received by Hiqa between 3 November 2015 and 5 March 2016. In total, 161 complaints are listed in the documents.
They cover a broad range of issues people have with elderly services, ranging from complaints to do with understaffing and cleanliness, to more serious allegations of abuse, lack of care and violence.
The claims are either partially or fully redacted in almost all cases in order to protect the anonymity of the people coming forward.
Instances of abuse
In one case, a person argues that someone related to them isn’t properly cared for by staff at a nursing home.
The person states that they have found their relative sitting in wet underwear on several occasions and that “no dignity or respect is shown” to them.
The person alleges that staff “no longer encourages SU to get out of bed” and that the person is “left sitting in wet underwear”.
In another instance, a complainant noticed a bad smell in their relative’s bedroom at a nursing home and discovered soiled bed linen was left in a bag beside the resident’s bed.
Another complaint has to do with a resident “starving to death” while multiple complaints relate to elderly residents becoming dehydrated due to a lack of water.
One heavily redacted complaint alleges sexual assault by members of staff at a nursing home. Who is assaulted or what took place is not clear.
Another person said that the lack of care from staff at a nursing home had increased the health problems of an elderly perosn who later died. The person said that they had been told by nursing home staff that previuosly the residents was “falling deliberately”.
Staffing
While some of these complaints point to alleged cases of extreme abuse – the most common concerns lodged are to do with nursing homes being understaffed.
In many instances, complainants say that staff are friendly and welcoming, but that they are overstretched and in some cases under-trained.
“CP (concerned person) wants it noted that staff are doing tremendous work but are totally rushed off their feet,” one incident notes.
“Risk of falls increase due to to lack of sufficient staff to supervise communal rooms,” reads another.
In response to the documents, a spokesperson for Hiqa told TheJournal.ie said that it did not have a remit to investigate individual complaints received.
However, it said that all incidents were logged and sent to the appropriate section that deals with the mentioned area. From there, a risk-assessment is carried out and action is taken on whether to investigate depending on the perceived level of risk.
“We welcome all information,” the spokesperson said.
Reaction
Older persons charity Alone said the reports were “concerning”.
Sean Moynihan, CEO of ALONE said:
“It is very distressing to read reports of some of our most vulnerable citizens being neglected and even abused in our nursing homes. These are places that older people should feel safe and secure in the later years of their lives. It is especially worrying to hear of these reports now, considering the recent convictions for abuse of vulnerable people in care homes.
“We must reflect on what this says about us as a society that this is allowed to continue and there is not a national outrage.”
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This is heartbreaking to read. I don’t know how anyone can treat our elderly people like this. They should be named and shamed.
You mean Enda Kenny and most of the loony pc brigade.
Let’s send the navy ship out to the med to pick up terrorists and let old folk die of hunger back at home.
Well said John
Coming from the perspective of a health care assistant and student nurse, understaffing has a huge impact on the caring staff which sometimes can and inadvertently, lead to residents being neglected. A carer can be left on a corridor to feed, wash and dress 15-20 residents after a member of staff rings in sick or because the staffing levels are just not adequate. The carer can be trying their absolute best but understaffing inevitably leads to the residents being neglected.
I am not under any circumstances, defending some of the abuse this article emphasises. I cannot fathom how any human being in a caring profession can emotionally or physically torment the people they should be helping. As a health care provider, we are truly privileged to meet, care and share experiences with so many special people we encounter on the way. It is a very rewarding profession to be able to help further the quality care of life for an individual.
Finally I would just like to say it really does disappoint me, that nearly every time a nursing home or any facility associated with our health care system is mentioned in the media, it is negative negative negative. I have had the fortunate experience of working in nursing homes/day centres where the care provided by staff is second to none. The treatment of the clients/residents is absolutely sublime. We never hear the positive HIQA reports that many facilities do get or the staff which are hard working and make a difference to individuals lives by providing excellent care on a daily basis.
Blazer Dave good on you as you sound very caring but I have seen first hand staff in an Acute hospital which is not understaffed totally neglect the physical care of less able patients.one or two staff took an interest but some days these people would be left unwashed and in bed all day
So blenori
You’ve seen one hospital where you felt the care wasn’t adequate and that makes you an expert?
One hospital or home, is one too many…..sorry
I worked for 26 years as a public servant. I did the job that I was paid to do and I did it thoroughly. I didn’t look for praise for doing what I was supposed to do anyway. The only reason someone doing a job should be praised, in my opinion, is when they go above and beyond the call of duty consistently. Many public servants, particularly in the caring professions do so. Unfortunately they often go unrecognised. Some years ago a relative of mine was in intensive care and was not expected to come out alive. One of the nurses had taken particular care of him and, after he had returned home, I called to IT and asked for her. She approached with some trepidation and asked what I wanted. I said that I simply wanted to say thanks. Well, she said, that’s a first! I asked what she meant and she said that it was the first time in her career that someone had come in specially to say thanks. It’s a pity that those of us who should be, and who sometimes are, grateful, do not say so more often.
Should name and shame the homes
I have it on good authority that they will be named and shamed, along with a few others. Just not today as the investigation has not been formally concluded. Once it is, it will be all over the news.
Fingers crossed.
This really is happening to often
Should name and shame them
As one who had two relatives in nursing homes, I think that the whole area needs proper inspection and examination.
I my case the staff were super but the facilities in a brand new facility were designed to pack “em in. Leisure/ activities/ pastimes are not a priority thus resulting in desperate boredom of many residents.
Staff for the most part are grossly underpaid in the face of huge obscene profits being extracted by the “business”.
Owners need a profit BUT not at the expense of patients or staff. While it is a “business” it should not be at the expense of quality of life of residents paying up to and over €1000++ per week
In a lot of homes , residents are put in front of TVs and daytime TV and is the majority or only “activity” (without even the use of a remote suitable control )
Homes need PROPERLY qualified activities managers. Residents need individual activity plans. It is not sufficient to have 1 staff member to wheel out a trolly with arts and crafts material once a week.
Buildings need to have light and space so that residents can get out in sunlight. Local to myself home is brand new “purpose” built but does not have a sun room , conservatory where residents can get out / sit out in in bright but windy/ cool weather. Activities rooms, day trips and everything that goes to make a home and not a waiting room must be seen as an urgent requirement.
Quality before massive gross profits should be the mantra.
Were often led to believe that privatisation leads to better service provision. Care of the elderly is one industry where this is not the case.
Nearly every facility that I’ve been to or know people working in all say the same, under-staffing is always the biggest issue.
This is strange because the FAS, or whatever they’re called now, churn out hundreds of health care assistance every few months. Sadly, some people are pushed onto these courses by the Dept of Social Protection, and who do not have the patience to work with the sick or elderly. Or, they tend to be foreign nationals who can be quiet heavy handed with the elderly, as per their own cultural upbringing.
Another issue is the quality of some of the nurses. Many from overseas don’t appear to be qualified at all. But when the care is only paying €11 – €13 for a qualified nurse, you get what you pay for. The good ones tend to go straight for the better paid and staffed HSE jobs.
Pay is not great for the health care assistants either. You’re lucky to get between minimum wage and €10 per hour with little hope of career or pay advancement. This is not conducive to a good work environment. Neither are the zero hour contracts that most are on.
Having said that, you will also find extremely dedicated staff, and the private facilities need to do more to keep them
There is a chronic shortage of both nurses and carers in this country at the moment which is having a huge effect on care provision.
Wages for nurses in the private sector are actually higher than HSE rates. Admittedly carers wages are lower.
The other thing people fail to realise is that most residents in private nursing homes are HSE funded, and the HSE hasn’t increased its rates in years. In actual fact, they are constantly pushing rates down in an attempt to get more for less. The average cost of care in a HSE run nursing home is €1600 a week, in private care it’s only €1100. The HSE essentially controls the private nursing home industry by holding the budget strings, but then escapes the bad press if things don’t go well.
There is never an excuse to mistreat and older person, EVER! But the HSE are tacitly creating this situation by refusing to pay fair rates comparable to how they find their own nursing homes.
You fail to mention what are the profits to the owners of the private nursing homes! Greed is at the background of a huge number of these homes. The HSE is simply badly managed and administration have a stranglehold on common sense. I get sick and tired at those who trot out the mantra of “put more money in”…….its not money , its the dreadful management of existing money that is causing the problem in the HSE. No point in covering up a hole in the roof again and again…….strip it back and fix it properly.
Private nursing homes are a gravy train for rich owners. Look at the cars the owners park outside their “homes”, I now I have in my local one and its sickening
This is nothing to do with staff numbers. There is no proper vetting, ongoing supervision or training of staff in so-called care homes. The answer is to employ qualified nurses not just some randomer off the street which is what happens currently, and often they are relatives or friends of the owner.
These people are not accountable under the law, the owner is however and should be prosected for neglect and breach of contract.
The state bears responsibility also by granting licences without rigourous vetting and supervision
Most Nursing homes are run as profit making enterprises so they want to keep their outgoings as low as possible. That’s why they take on untrained carers, because they can pay the minimum wage and have only a few qualified staff nurses to oversee the carers. It’s a very bad situation with carers frequently doubling as cleaners and laundry maids. Having worked in a couple of nursing homes I’ve seen the way the carers are run off their feet and I have to say most do the best they can and are kind and considerate towards their patients for very little financial reward. It’s the penny pinching owners who are mainly at fault, wanting far too much for far too little so they can show a profit. If they employed only qualified nurses they’d have to pay appropriate salaries to attract them to work in what can be a very challenging environment, and the whole thing would be economically unviable. The government needs these homes to keep going in order to take the burden of the care of the elderly off them, so they don’t want to put people off opening care homes either and seem to take very laissez faire attitude to the shortcomings. The whole thing needs properly enforced regulation.
I agree with everything you said except about staffing Kevin. Staffing is one of the biggest problems every facility faces. It like care homes either barely have enough or not enough staff on any given day. That is my experience anyway.
Nursing homes are required to only employ qualified nurses or carers who hold QQI Level 5 in Healthcare Support. Unqualified staff working in nursing homes stopped 2 years after the enactment of the Health Act 2007.
Nursing pay in private nursing homes exceeds HSE rates in most cases.
If you know that this is happening to a relative. You are responsible to report it to the relevant person, HIQA, owner, senior staff, garda, etc. Then move your relative to a different center/home. Name & shame to center/home. It has to stop. If anyone was abusing a member of my family there is no hole on this planet they could hide in. I would track them down.
Hiqua and mental health inspectorate have no remit to deal with individual cases so when you contact them they always say were sorry but we don’t deal with individual cases but we will document your concerns. Hence it’s back to management of the facility which in the first instance is the one that should be being repremanded.The government was supposed to be changing the remit if both Hiqua. and mhi !
Glenoiri, the National Safeguarding and Protection of Vulnerable Adult teams deal with individual cases.
No country for old age!
The real problem once again is the privatisation of health care.
When profit is the motive corners are cut and standards slip.
For the owners it’s all about profit at the end of the day.
Are you kidding? Presumably you never encountered state “care” in the good old pre-privatisation days?
Nothing whatsoever wrong with profit but surely there has to be a correlation between what is being charged and expected overheads. There has to be a fair system that ensures that proper costings on care are met. I would assume that € 1,000 a month would go a long way in providing bed and board in the tourism industry and with most residents in care homes entitled to medical cards their well being would also be catered for. I am not suggesting this as a solution but if there was a bit of joined up thinking in the health system a solution to the criminal behaviour of greedy nursing home owners might come to light.
Jho Harris
What is worse is care homes that charge €3,000+ per month and still do not have the correct staffing levels!
In fairness Ben we didn’t have a lot of the training and legal standards back then that we have now.
Now there is no excuse. This is absolutely down to penny pinching on behalf of private care home owners.
You’d be doing well to get a nursing home space for €1000 a month!
As a social care worker who has been through the hiqua system i have seen the many positives it is still continuing to bring about. But from reading this story i am very worried about what appears to be its biggest flaw. Hiqua stated in the above article that they do not investigate individual complaints made to them by individuals!!! Why is this happening and why is this something that they are not changing about their processes. It appears then that they only investigate issues that have arisen as a result of their own inspections within organsiations or services. This is a real negative on their part and still leaves individuals very vulnerable and unsupported. Its like we take 2 steps forward and 10 steps back when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable.
The legislation that created HIQA doesn’t allow them to investigate individual complaints. They can however carry out focused inspections informed by the information received in the form of complaints. It’s a very subtle difference.
The government would need to give HIQA additional statutory power and funding if we wanted them to carry out this role.
Care of the Elderly, like certain other professions, is a vocation. It takes a certain mindset to carry out this type of role. I’ve worked within the private homecare industry and so many people came to me with their FETAC course done that I wouldn’t have put in charge of a dead animal let alone a vulnerable person. When I asked them what drew them to this kind of work, more often than not I’d be told it was the only course they could get on. I’d also have lovely people that had no qualifications but had cared for a relative and you’d see that caring nature completely shine through. We have too many people in this industry that aren’t suited to it and that’s worrying and scary
I said it before and I’ll say it again …… I do not want to live to a ripe old age!
Ireland isn’t a good place to be old or sick thats for sure, but I’m not sure where is these days.
This is the society we are choosing for ourselves.
With an elderly relative in care I can say that I don’t know how the staff in these homes do their jobs, it’s not a career I’d be able for.
The vast majority I have come into contact with have been kind and considerate and done their utmost to help.
Staffing is by far and away the biggest issue they face. The home my relative is resident in operates on a skeleton staff, with no increase in numbers when there is an increase in residents. They also have great facilities for rehab & physio lying empty as they don’t have a physio to use them.
You can clearly see a dip in the level of care at times when things are busy – through no real fault of the staff – thankfully there are enough of us to keep an eye on whats happening, but I can easily see a situation where a resident has no one looking out for them, escalate.
Issues with food and hydration are a big problem, again, we keep an eye on it ourselves, but you shouldn’t have to.
But hey, as long as the bond holders are happy.
If these assaults have been proven, why no names??
Better Call Saul?
(But seriously, this is terrible)
They should be arrested. . Abuse is abuse inside or outside a nursing home ..The owners of these places should be held accountable too. . Sickens me ..The standard of staffing needs to maintained ..
What’s the answer to an ever aging population?
Well the answer is to care for them not abuse them.
What’s the name
161 individual reports to HIQA who do have remit to investigate individual complaints. Please encourage patients to complain to the Ombudsman instead.
His email is ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.ie
Even when the negligent or abusive staff members are caught the punishment they receive is not a sufficient deterrent to prevent others doing the same. Let the punishment fit the crime. If you abuse the elderly you should get a taste of your own medicine. A very stiff fine and prison sentence would bring these abusers to their senses!
This is merely fiction, unless you name the Home.
Happens in many places, they seem to also drug them in their orange juice as well…
The sad fact is many elderly in hospitals as well, would rather do without than want to bother a nurse etc to as they believe go out of their way for to prepare them food. So they starve rather than bother another person and many do not understand this mentality of theirs but sometimes in these homes the care is lacking a lot.
I work in the Intellectual Disability sector- HIQUA is a good body to have in place, it pushes care organisations to have standards and this needs to continue – however the previous 2 Governments have so chronically cut funding in disability services that under staffing, huge extra workloads with reams and reams of extra paperwork is causing a big part of any problems! If the public actually realised how hard things have got working in a job where Empathy and a dedication to care is the main asset brought to the job by the vast majority that work in the sector and the frustrations that staff have in dealing with longer hours, less resources, harder work and poor pay they would be horrified! The entire care system is only actually able to operate at all because of the dedication of staff and their caring attitude – it isn’t a job- it’s a vocation – a vocation that gets very little respect by our overpaid and under worked politicians! The elderly and disabled deserve far more respect than is currently given by the Government – many Care workers are leaving and changing careers and emigrating because of the frustrations under resourcing has had for the last 10 years! We need to Staff care organisations much better, we need much better resources and we need to give working conditions where the caring and empathy that staff hold can be fully utilised! I believe you can only really judge society on how it treats the young, disabled, elderly, disadvantaged and vulnerable – in this regard Irish Society is failing miserably – I’ve worked over 15yrs in adult intellectual disability services, it is getting worse not better and the only thing that is holding it together is the incredible dedication of staff!! We need massive increases in funding just to bring us back to where we were 10 years ago never mind where we should be! I work for a great organisation with a forward thinking attitude with dedicated staff- we need the Government to fund us far, far better and work hand in hand with HIQUA to deliver a service that the people we support deserve!
Sorry HIQA – think my phone has a mind of its own when it comes to spelling correction! !
“One heavily redacted complaint alleges sexual assault by members of staff at a nursing home. Who is assaulted or what took place is not clear.”…..who is HIQA protecting?
Why are carers in nursing homes themselves not complaing to Hiqa over staffing levels . After all they are the ones who see at first hand what is going wrong
Name, shame and charge, why all the secrecy?
A calorie restricted diet may prolong human life. I’m sure that was the motivation.
I worked in nursing homes yrs ago, never again, no one on one personal time, staff are stretched to limit. No justification for any form of abuse. I work in the home care section now, & all my clients get the respect & dignity they deserve
They’re not short of decent delph by the look of the pic.
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