Responding to this afternoon’s HIQA report on Sacred Heart nursing home in Roscommon, Justin Moran, Head of Advocacy and Communications, said: “This is the second HIQA report in four days that highlights inadequate facilities in a HSE-run nursing home.
“The similarities between today’s report on Sacred Heart nursing home in Roscommon and St Patrick’s in Leitrim suggest these are systemic issues that the HSE needs to address about the adequacy of the buildings used for long-term care.
“These facilities are simply inadequate to provide basic levels of dignity and privacy to residents. Why do we expect older people to live seven, eight, nine people to a room?
“In Sacred Heart, there are not enough toilets and bathrooms for residents, and not enough of them are wheelchair accessible. In some cases the only way to get to a resident’s bedroom is to walk through the bedroom of other residents.
“Both inspection reports also make clear there is simply not enough staff in either facility to deal with the number of residents.
“The results of both of these inspection reports clearly show what happens when there are insufficient funds to support long-term care, a failure to plan for our growing older population and inadequate facilities to meet the needs of older people.”
