Official response: The HSE expressed its regret that a number of patients at Leas Cross were injured and said the care provided was wholly unacceptable, a senior official told a press conference.
Aidan Browne, national director of primary, community and continuing care services, said the former chief executive of the Northern Area Health board had expressed her deepest regret that a number of patients were injured and that the board was unable to have in place sufficiently robust oversight systems.
"The HSE shares this regret and wishes to now assure the public that it is making every effort to ensure that such circumstances did not occur again," he said.
He said he favoured a star system for nursing homes and graduated sanctions and the capacity to close a nursing home down. "We need the option of graduated sanctions and we need to be able to move in quickly to close a nursing home down. The court route takes at least 12 months," he said.
When asked if anybody would be held to account for Leas Cross, he said: "The report doesn't attribute blame to any individual but identifies a significant amount of systems failures. The HSE will address all the issues."
Asked if there were any figures for the number of deaths in nursing homes, he said one could never be certain of accurate figures of people dying in nursing homes as death certificates were sometimes forwarded by the nursing homes and some patients were transferred to hospital.
Asked how widespread the abuse was in nursing homes, Mr Browne said he was satisfied that where there were problems in a number of nursing homes, they were working to improve them.
"We are working with them to improve them and in a small number we have moved to halt admissions," he said.