'It does not answer our questions'

Families: The families of former residents of Leas Cross have welcomed the report on the nursing home but say it has left many questions unanswered.

The report, released yesterday, highlighted the deficiencies in care at the home in Swords, Co Dublin, and found that patients there had been subjected to institutional abuse.

While the families welcomed the report, they were unhappy with the level of detail it contained and dissatisfied that the names of the staff and public servants involved were not included.

The findings did not come as a surprise to them, they said.

Shane Walsh, whose father, Richard, died on April 16th, 2003, after two years in Leas Cross, said the report did not answer the questions his family needed answering.

"What [ Prof Des] O'Neill says highlights difficulties but for us it does not answer our questions," he said.

"We need answers as to why our father died, why he didn't receive the proper medical attention.

"We can't put closure on this until we get those answers. It's okay coming up with a general report which highlights difficulties, but, selfishly, I had a father, he was my father, I want a report on him."

He said the family were aware there was an investigation into the death of their father and they wanted to see the results of that.

Tony Mullins, whose mother, Kitty Mullins, died in February 2004 after a stay in Leas Cross, said the report's finding in relation to the Health Service Executive's knowledge of problems in the nursing home prior to its closure was not surprising.

"Everything they have done is consistent with their wish to protect people who failed in their duty of care," he said.

"We withdrew our mother from Leas Cross . . . We take this matter very seriously and we do intend to consult with other families before determining our path forward."

The brother of one man who was transferred from Leas Cross to Beaumont Hospital with dehydration and pneumonia and subsequently died of heart failure also said he was not surprised at the findings of the report.

"The care of my brother was not proper or adequate and was responsible for his fatal illness," he said.

"I would like the owners and management of Leas Cross to be challenged on the basis of the findings of the O'Neill report because I believe there was negligence and deficiencies in the running of that home."

Dan Moore, whose brother Peter McKenna had Down Syndrome and died in Leas Cross after being transferred there from St Michael's House, said the report was testament to a major blot on the Irish health map.

"He [ Prof O'Neill] deserves credit for drawing it up but more credit for withstanding pressure to amend his report," he said.

But Mr Moore said he found it hard to accept the current "handwringing" around the report.

"If these deaths concerned babies, society would be up in arms.

"As it is, society treats them as elderly and infirm and doesn't care unduly," he said.

"My brother lasted 13 days in Leas Cross and died of septicaemia, a painful death, and in that time he didn't receive as much as an Anadin.

"To this day, St Michael's House, Leas Cross or the Northern Area Health Board, nobody has bothered to say we are sorry about what happened or we would do things differently."

He said public servants who knew of the issues yet persisted in putting patients into Leas Cross should be publicly examined and made accountable.

Mr Moore was highly critical of the HSE, saying that when he was given a copy of Martin Hynes's report on the death of his brother, he had a meeting with Minister for Health Mary Harney.

She told him the department would pay the bill if he needed any help dealing with the report.

He said he was later told by the HSE that any bill would be capped at €300.