Minister to get back to families after meeting
AS part of their ongoing calls for an inquiry into the deaths of residents in Dealgan House in April and May, representatives of families whose loved ones died during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic met with the Minister for Health and the Minister for Older People Stephen Donnelly TD last Thursday .
During the hour-long meeting they outlined their calls for an inquiry into how the 23 people died at the nursing home.
Afterwards, they said that ‘ The discussion included acknowledging the wide coalition of public concern about the need for an inquiry and the special circumstances in Dealgan House where uniquely the HSE/RCSI Hospital Group assumed operational control of a private facility.’
Families expressed their concerns about the welfare and condition of residents in the nursing home at the time based on reports and correspondence they have seen.
Families want an inquiry to examine the supports available and the speed of response in getting help to the facility from April 11 until the RCSI assumed operational control on the afternoon April 17 2020 and thereafter the nature of the supports provided. Various inquiry options and models were considered and the Minister requested time to reflect and discuss with his colleague Minister Butler and officials in the Department of Health. The Minister stated that it was important to get to the truth of what happened.
In the course of the meeting the families reminded the Minister that he had been a champion of the residents of nursing homes since early April 2020 and that in early May speaking specifically of Dealgan House as the then opposition spokesman on Health he had said ‘what has happened at Dealgan House is a tragedy for all concerned. It is important that a short review is done to see what lessons can be learned and applied quickly in our fight against COVID’. The Minister said he would consider everything that he had heard. He thanked the group for their time and their braveness in sharing their stories and confirmed that he would revert to the group within a short number of weeks.