A body representing nursing homes has welcomed the publication today of the Leas Cross report but has criticised the HSE as having a "conflict of roles" in relation to such homes.
Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) said that what happened in the Swords home, which was found to have fallen below acceptable standards of care, "should not have happened".
Noting remarks in a 2006 report into Leas Cross by geriatrician Prof Des O'Neill that nursing homes across the country contained "highly committed, professional, well-trained staff" who were "striving to deliver excellent care", NHI chief executive Tadhg Daly said: "That is as true today as when it was said in 2006. Nonetheless improvement is always possible and so we must learn lessons from the Leas Cross report.”
Mr Daly said one of the underlying issues around maintaining standards was inspection of nursing homes.
"Prior to July 1st 2009, those inspections were carried out by the HSE. The HSE therefore was provider, regulator and purchaser - a clear conflict of roles. For that reason, NHI welcomes the establishment of the Health Information and Quality Authority."
Mr Daly said his organisation worked closely with HIQAy on the development of the new National Quality Standards for Residential Care Settings for Older People, and also with the Department of Health and Children on the new regulations pertaining to them.
"The NHI see these as critical to ensuring that nursing homes - public, private and voluntary- deliver excellent care in the most appropriate setting."
"The publication of the report today reminds that the quality of care must be the prime consideration. Our members recognise that, and we play our part in ensuring that older people in our communities are treated humanely, with dignity and respect.”
Labour Party health spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan said the publication today of the report into Leas Cross was "cynical in the extreme".
"On a day when the McCarthy report has also been published, the chances of Leas Cross attracting the media attention it deserves, are small," she said.
She said the document "also shines a light on the culture of commodification of older people that has taken place in our health services in recent years".
"The end result of this has been a situation where the primary motivation in a small number of privately-run nursing homes has been one of profit, which has meant that when it has come to running these facilities, the quality of services was of secondary consideration."
"It is now of critical importance that the commitment to make the required 48 appointments to the Social Services Inspectorate, is met and that those new inspectors will only be inspecting residential care settings for the elderly and not carrying out other functions under the ambit of the Social Service Inspectorate. Nor should the Inspectorate should not become a victim of An Bord Snip Nua."
Sinn Féin spokesman on health Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin also said the publication of the Leas Cross report today was "cynical in the extreme" and that Minister for Health Mary Harney had published it under "the smokescreen of the Bord Snip report".
He said this did "a disservice to the report itself and to the many nursing home residents and families across the country who had been awaiting the report and who are anxious to see the badly needed implementation of major improvements in monitoring and inspection of nursing homes".
Fine Gael front bench spokesman Fergus O’Dowd yesterday said the decision to publish the Leas Cross report on the same day as the 'Bord Snip' report was "a disgrace".