HSE appalled by conditions at Dublin home

The Health Service Executive for the Northern area has said it is shocked and appalled at the conditions at a Co Dublin nursing home which were shown on tonight's RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme.

In the programme, an undercover reporter who is also a qualified care assistant went to work at the Leas Cross nursing and retirement complex in Swords.

The programme showed a patient with several untreated bedsores who went on to develop the superbug MRSA.

It also featured several other examples of what the programme claimed was sub-standard care and patient neglect.

The head of the inspection team, at the HSE for the Northern area, Jack Buckley, said what was shown in the programme was indefensible and said the HSE would move to address the issues raised at the Leas Cross nursing home.

In a separate development, Fine Gael has called for the establishment of an independent national inspectorate to examine conditions in nursing homes around the State.

Fine Gael Spokesman Fergus O'Dowd said tonight's programme showed the disgusting, degrading and dangerous situation in which some nursing home residents are living.

Mr O'Dowd said there was an urgent need for a fully transparent structure for nursing home care to be set up.

Earlier this evening, RTÉ welcomed the High Court decision to allow the broadcast of the programme.

The editor of Prime Time, David Nally, said the programme raised important public interest issues, and he was glad that the viewers would be able to make up their own minds.

The operators of the Leas Cross nursing home had attempted to stop the screening of the programme.

A separate application for a similar injunction by the home's Director of Nursing, Denise Cogley, was also rejected.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke refused the applications on the grounds that damages would be an adequate remedy if either applicant was successful in any future legal claim. 

Having viewed the programme, the judge said he was of the view that it raised important public interest issues.

He also suggested there might be serious questions involved for policy and the implementation of policy for the Government and State bodies.

In the their application for an interlocutory injunction, John and Genevieve Aherne and Sovereign Projects Ltd claimed RTÉ trespassed on their premises and breached a number of their constitutional rights.

In her application, Ms Cogley claimed the programme had defamed her.