The granddaughter of a man who recently passed away in a care home has said the revelations on RTÉ last night are “just the tip of the iceberg”.
On RTÉ Investigates, the broadcaster sent two healthcare assistants undercover to work in Beneavin House in Dublin and the Residence, Portlaoise.
While working there, they claimed there were staff shortages and had witnessed vulnerable people not receiving the care they required.
Care homes: uncaring?
On Lunchtime Live, Maria, whose grandfather passed away two weeks ago, said she was not surprised by the revelations.
Two years ago, she began campaigning for better care for the elderly after the HSE tried to move her grandfather to a different nursing home, which the family feared would provide him with an inferior level of care.
While she said her grandfather received “amazing” care towards the end of his life, she was keenly aware this was not the case for everyone.
“The strain that those staff are under, the strain that staff in private nursing homes are under, the level of neglect is just unbearable,” she said.
“What we’ve seen last night was just the tip of the iceberg, as far as I’m concerned.
“I have spoken to hundreds of families.
“I dealt with families during the campaign that had their loved ones moved to private nursing homes that just didn’t have the facilities to look after their loved ones and their loved ones are dying within days.”
A nurse holding the man of an elderly woman. Picture by: Alamy.comMaria described her family as “shattered” following her grandfather’s death, while adding that they were “very lucky” to have him 97 years.
She continued that she feared that at some point he might have received poor care without anyone knowing.
“This man devoted his life to his community, volunteering, ensuring that Ireland was a better place for everybody,” she said.
“And at the end of his life, he had no protection; if we had issues there was nowhere to go with it.
“Nobody wanted to listen and it’s a countrywide problem.”
Maria concluded that it should never be the case that an old person leaves their “human rights at the door of a nursing home”.
Main image: An elderly person. Picture by: Alamy.com.
