'I was branded a troublemaker. I felt my integrity was in tatters'

WHISTLE-BLOWER:BRIDIE COX worked as a nurse in the disability and mental health sector in the UK for 30 years, but when she returned home to Co Clare a few years ago to continue her work, she was shocked at the standard of care.

“It was like going back in time,” says Cox of the first institution she worked in. “Lots of the work was just task-oriented: cleaning rooms, making beds, feeding residents. It was an approach I’d last seen about 30 or 40 years previously in the UK.”

What was most disturbing was the mistreatment. She says she witnessed over-sedation of patients, physical abuse, bullying, intimidation and neglect. Yet, she insists, her claims were never taken seriously.

“I saw all sorts. I saw an elderly man being pushed and shoved around, kicked up the backside. There was verbal abuse of residents, too. I remember one was told, ‘If you don’t straighten up, you won’t fit in your coffin’.”

Rehabilitation of residents was virtually non-existent, she says, as there was no meaningful therapeutic intervention. Worse still was the attitude of some members of staff towards vulnerable residents.

Cox made a number of complaints, which her managers said were unfounded. When she followed up these complaints to the highest level at HSE head office, the files were lost, she says. When eventually it was dealt with, she was told again that her complaints were no longer valid.

“I wasn’t even interviewed myself. How they could determine that, I just don’t know. By that stage a lot of the staff had left. They were changing some of the practices at the centre following my complaints. But I was branded a troublemaker. I felt my integrity was in tatters,” she says.

Cox also worked in Cappahard Lodge in Co Clare, a residential home for older people with dementia or mental health problems. It has become part of the psychiatric service in recent times. It was heavily criticised by the Inspector of Mental Health Services.

While some services have moved clients into community settings, says Cox, many institutionalised practices remain.

“You still have residents queuing for baths, for their pocket money or cigarettes.”

She left on grounds of stress, dejected and disillusioned with the system.

“The biggest problem is that people are willing to turn a blind eye to what’s happening. That’s the culture. They aren’t willing or interested in change, even though that is so much more rewarding both for staff and residents. I tried to change how things were done, but you can’t do that on your own.”