A safeguarding expert from Northern Ireland has been appointed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rape of a care home resident known as Emily by a healthcare worker. It is the latest in a series of investigations since the incident came to light in 2020.
Emily was a pseudonym used to protect the abuse victim’s identity. She died in 2021. Her rapist was jailed for 11 years thanks to her testimony.
The appointment of Jackie McIlroy follows the completion of a report into the incident by the National Independent Review Panel (Nirp), which examines serious HSE failings. The Nirp report has not been published yet, but its contents have emerged into the public domain.
HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster, has confirmed the report found that up to 30 other assaults are alleged to have taken place at the home, many involving the same healthcare worker.
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Gloster believes a further investigation is now required because the HSE does not yet fully understand what went wrong at the facility in question and whether it raises any issues in the wider context of care home provision.
As part of her brief, McIlroy is undertaking a high-level review of HSE overall safeguarding structures.
Perhaps the most concerning finding to have emerged from the Nirp report is that the 30 or so allegations of assault made by other residents were not believed by staff and not followed up.
It has been reported many of the complaints were dismissed because of the age and health of the residents.
This was despite, according to the Taoiseach, the HSE’s adult safeguarding policy mandating a zero-tolerance approach that requires staff to report all abuse concerns, criminal or otherwise.
In Emily’s case a conviction was only secured because staff members chose to believe her, and the above guidelines were followed.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has told the Dáil that the Nirp recommendations include a working group to look at how residential facilities for older people operate and a staff awareness campaign. The Taoiseach has promised a new national policy on adult safeguarding in the health and disability sector.
This is welcome, but the fact remains that the HSE already had in place a clear policy on the reporting of abuse. When it was followed – as in the case of Emily – it had the desired effect. When it was not followed abuse went unchecked.
Presumably McIlroy will address the reasons for the clear gap between the safeguarding guidelines and actual practice in the nursing home in question and further afield for that is clearly where the problem lies.
One lesson is clear: zero-tolerance must mean zero-tolerance.