The Department of Health criticised the "negative" findings of a report by the Irish Human Rights Commission into failures in the care of older people in nursing homes, it has emerged.
Correspondence shows the department disagreed with some of the report's findings and wanted to know the identity of department officials who spoke to the commission in the preparation of the report.
The report, Older People in Long Stay Care, published in November 2002, highlighted failures in the system of inspection of private nursing homes, the lack of public information on standards in homes and the absence of a statutory independent complaints procedure.
In its observations on the report, the department told the commission it disagreed with some of the findings and expressed concern at the negative tone of the majority of the recommendations. These observations were provided to The Irish Times following a media request last week.
The department and the Health Services Executive (HSE)have since moved to act on many of the issues raised in the report. Concern over standards in nursing homes was sparked by Prime Time earlier this month.
Yesterday, the commission president, Dr Maurice Manning, said he was surprised at the department's response to its report.
"We'd like to draw a line under this episode. We have commissioned a new study on human rights for the elderly, focusing especially on some of the issues already raised. We hope this time the department will see the report as a positive attempt to promote human rights and engage in dialogue," he said.
The department's observations on the commission's report also expressed concern that the conclusions were being quoted in a "factual" way in documents such as a Law Reform Commission consultation paper on older people and the law.
It also said it would have been helpful if the report had acknowledged the progress made in developing services for older people and pointed out that the department had established a dedicated line budget to fund services for older people in 1999.
The document added: "The department regards it as unfortunate that the draft report also appears to have been written in a negative way and the vast majority of the recommendations are negative . . ."
"The department notes the author's reference to the 'helpful discussions with officials of the Department of Health on some of the issues'. The department is anxious to know the nature of these discussions (ie dates and officials concerned) and would appreciate clarification from the commission in this regard."
The HSE announced last week that it plans to make information on nursing home inspections publicly available. The department has said legislation to establish an independent inspectorate for nursing homes is at an advanced stage. New standards for nursing home care are also expected to be included in the legislation.
