HSE defends Leas Cross transfers

Nursing home care: Health authorities have defended the manner in which they transferred elderly patients from Leas Cross nursing home, which effectively closed at the weekend, after the last remaining residents were moved to new accommodation.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has moved 20 public patients, and helped source alternative nursing homes for 70 private patients, from the home which has faced a series of allegations over poor standards of care.

However, some of the staff at the home say the decision has been hugely disruptive and damaging for older and more dependent residents who were happy to remain at Leas Cross.

Vivienne O'Brien, an activities therapist at the home for seven years, said family members were distraught at the way health authorities had gone about moving patients from the unit.

"Those poor people are being used as human pawns in a political game. It wasn't deserved. It's been heart-breaking and upsetting for staff and family members," she said.

She said a 103-year-old woman had been transferred out of the home against both the family and the resident's wishes. Another elderly man, who had been resident at Leas Cross for seven years, wished to remain at the unit, she said.

An elderly male resident with psychiatric problems became ill after his transfer to a new nursing home and was now at St Ita's psychiatric hospital.

The owner of Leas Cross, John Aherne, said withdrawal of subvention was being used to force relatives of private patients to find alternative nursing homes.

"I think it was a very dangerous way to move people, and I think it was a form of abuse. The families were threatened and people who were compos mentis were threatened that their subvention would be removed. And that's a breach of human rights."

A HSE spokeswoman said while the transfer of residents could be difficult for them, the process had been undertaken in close consultation with families and residents.

"We began the process quite a while ago and have been communicating with families. They were involved in the transfer process as much as possible, down to choosing the homes where their relatives were going to. We would like to thank all the families involved for their co-operation," she said.

She said relatives were told they would no longer receive subvention if they chose to keep their relative at Leas Cross, due to the quality of care at the home. They could continue to receive the subvention elsewhere, however.

The HSE confirmed that a resident who was originally transferred from St Ita's psychiatric hospital to Leas Cross - due to the need for 24-hour nursing care - had become ill after being transferred. The resident was in the acute assessment unit of the hospital, but would ultimately be placed in an appropriate nursing home.

The last residents in Leas Cross were moved out of the home on Saturday evening. HSE staff are no longer based at Leas Cross, although two nurse liaison officers will remain on duty to help families or residents, the spokeswoman added.

The HSE took the decision to move public patients, and advise private patients to seek alternative arrangements, following a three-week assessment by experts.

Mr Aherne, who has defended levels of care at the home, said he wished to know whether those nursing homes which former residents of Leas Cross had been moved to met all the necessary HSE criteria.

A protest by members of the Irish Nurses' Organisation, due to begin today at a Co Leitrim nursing home, has been called off pending further talks with management. Nurses had voted to work "under protest" at Arus Carolan in Mohill for the month of August .

They said the action was as a result of concern that only one nurse and one care attendant were on duty each night to care for 40 elderly residents.