Man with Alzheimer's found 'wandering around' Portlaoise after leaving nursing home without being missed

A man with Alzheimer's who went missing from The Residence nursing home in Portlaiose was not missed by staff until his family returned him after the found him wandering around the town, a Laois TD has claimed.

Brian Stanley has also claimed that corrective measures promised to prevent a repeat were not implemented at the home, which is the subject of intensive review following revelations in an RTÉ Investigation. 

The independent TD spoke in the Dáil on May 10, about what he has learned of the incident involving the home which is located near Portlaoise Train Station.

"A man with Alzheimer's from another town in the county was recognised by a former neighbour walking around the town (Portlaoise) - he did not even know where he was – and contacted one of his family members. They got him back to the nursing home. He was wandering around, and nobody had missed him. A plan was agreed, and corrective measures were to be taken, but these were not implemented," said Dep Stanley.

The Portlaoise-based politician outlined other problems. 

"A former carer in Portlaoise nursing home has informed us that the RTÉ programme only touched the surface. She described at length what she saw during her time working in the nursing home over a number of years and outlined the appalling 2practices there. There are some shocking examples, and these occurred before anything came out on RTÉ. An elderly mother was looking to have her incontinence pad changed and, despite repeated requests, it did not happen. Her family eventually took her out of there," he said.

He was highly critical of the failure so far to sanction the operators, Emeis Ireland, for accepting new referrals into The Residence after being ordered to cease admissions from April 22 by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

"Worst of all, the nursing home continued taking admissions despite being banned by HIQA. Where are the sanctions? There are none. HIQA has failed miserably. I had faith in HIQA up to about ten days ago. I have no faith in it now. I have lost all confidence in its ability to monitor care in nursing homes and enforce regulations and rules.

"Will we have a Garda investigation into some of the criminal activity we saw? Has HIQA issued financial penalties? Has it deregistered any of the nursing homes owned by these large companies? I understand that the one in this case owns 27 homes," he said.

The TD told the Minister for Older People Kieran O'Donnell that he had met representatives from the Irish nursing home alliance who told him that  77 small independent nursing homes have closed in the past five years in the main due to strict demands. He highlighted one such home in Portlaoise which shut in April around the time that The Residence was banned from restricting admissions.

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"Ballard Lodge in Portlaoise, which was providing excellent care - I never heard a complaint against it - closed recently. That is one of the most recent casualties of HIQA standards. These smaller homes are being held to the standards.

"Abbeyleix public nursing home was almost closed 13 years ago because of HIQA demands, but a large public campaign that and others were involved in stopped it from happening. Thank God we kept it there. Why does it appear there is a more lackadaisical approach to the larger multiples such as that which we saw last week on the television? Have they got more clout? I do not know,” he said.

Minister O'Donnell said the Government is committed to an adult safeguarding policy for the health and social care sector. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Pictured: The Residence

"I expect the issue will be brought to the Cabinet before the summer recess. Following that, we will be looking for approval to progress a health and adult safeguarding Bill, which is in the current legislative programme. It is a matter of absolute priority.

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"I am on record as saying that I would like to see inspections taking place more quickly and timeframes for protected disclosures. The Deputy will appreciate that I want to work within a process. Immediately after the two nursing homes were named by RTÉ, I met representatives of HIQA and requested two things. The first was that HIQA would engage intensively with the nursing homes. It committed to doing that.

"The second was that it would provide a report on the Emeis group and all its nursing homes. I asked for an overview of all its nursing homes and its regulatory history, including but not limited to regulatory compliance, escalating enforcement actions and any additional conditions of registration. I expect to receive a report with an update on the two nursing homes by the end of this week. I also expect an interim report in respect of the Emeis group by the end of this week and a more substantive report on it - the full report - by the end of next week," he said.

Emeis Ireland has apologised and promised action to address the failings.