Demands for new legislation to investigate nursing homes

PATIENT safety campaigners have called for immediate changes to legislation so complaints against nursing homes can be fully investigated.

The calls come after it was revealed by RTÉ News yesterday that almost 700 complaints relating to the care of residents in nursing homes were made to the Health Information and Quality Authority last year.

Some of the complaints related to alleged sexual and physical assaults, as well as filthy conditions in nursing homes. While a complaint does not prove that any wrongdoing has taken place, data protection issues mean that Hiqa cannot pass details of cases that warrant further investigation on to the Ombudsman.

Irish Patients’ Association spokesman Stephen McMahon said the Government needs to intervene immediately to fix the so-called anomaly preventing complaints being fully investigated. ‘We have very serious complaints being made by family members about nursing homes that need to be investigated,’ he said. ‘It’s a very serious situation and requires immediate action by the Government so that complaints can be progressed and investigated fully.’

A memorandum of understanding was signed in 2015 which provided for the sharing of information between the Ombudsman and Hiqa. However, information released in reply to a parliamentary question shows that since the signing of the memorandum, no information has been shared between Hiqa and the Office of the Ombudsman due to data protection restrictions.

Details of the complaints – released to Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd – showed 680 complaints were made to Hiqa in 2017, including eight complaints of alleged assault and five sexual assault allegations.

In a statement to RTÉ, Hiqa acknowledged that there were legislative shortcomings around the protection of vulnerable adults that need to be addressed legislatively.