Harney must carry the can for Leas Cross failures
Statement by Green Party Health spokesperson and TD for Dublin South East John Gormley:
“Professor Des O’Neill’s report on the Leas Cross nursing home in north Dublin is distressing reading. It is a damning indictment of the Fianna Fáil/PD position on for-profit care and it confirms, unfortunately, much of what I have said in the Dáil about the pitiful state of nursing homes in Ireland. I have made these statements on information given to me by concerned health workers. Sub-standard care of our elderly is much more prevalent than Mary Harney would like us to believe.
“Once healthcare and the care of the elderly become commodities, the door is immediately opened to abuse – particularly when the necessary safeguards are not in place.
“Mary Harney and her predecessor Michael Martin cannot wash their hands of this. All of this has happened on their watch and they have to carry the can. Minister Harney has announced her regret and proclaimed to be shocked by the Professor O’Neill’s findings, but more shocking is her continued inability to put in place safeguards to prevent such despicable and inhumane treatment of the most vulnerable members of society.
“The question now is, how can Leas Cross and the many other examples of bad practice in our health system be avoided in the future? Unless the necessary safeguards and rigorous standards are put in place, and as long as the Government considers the profit of greedy and unscrupulous individuals to be more important than the welfare and dignity of our elderly, then this may happen again.”