Staff who abuse nursing home residents should be banned for life and jailed

Independent TD for Offaly Carol Nolan has said she wants to see “each and every person found guilty of abusing elderly and vulnerable nursing home residents arrested and their ability to ever work in such settings removed for life.”

Deputy Nolan made the remarks ahead of a scheduled Dáil Statements on Nursing Homes and Care for Older Persons due to take place this evening (Tuesday).

The Independent TD said that to call what we have seen revealed by RTE in some of our nursing homes a betrayal is an understatement, “it is brutality, plain and simple,” she said:

“While we all accept that you can never definitely eradicate the capacity of certain ruthless people working in care settings of any description, that does not mean that we cannot legislate for the hammer of the law to come on those people who have found to be despicably abusive toward our elderly,” said Deputy Nolan.

“What we have seen recently on our screens is the vicious erosion of trust that is sickening to the core.”

“It is my hope that I hope each and every person who is found to have abused our elderly is arrested. I also see their ability to ever work in such settings removed for life. People who abuse our elderly are, in my view, nothing short of animals engaged in the brutalisation of our loved ones. No regulatory or disciplinary mercy must be shown to them. No excuses about regulatory failure must be offered.”

“They are a stain on the good name of genuine nursing home staff and all of those nursing homes who cherish their residents. The signal must go out, that if you mistreat or assault our elderly you will be jailed.”

“If you violate their dignity, you will answer for it before the courts and not just some professional standards tribunal.”

“People are sick and tired of these kinds of action. They want binding guarantees that the excuses and the tolerance for this wretched behaviour is at end.”

“By all means let us get on with the work of reforming our safeguarding laws to ensure that we address these scenarios as best we can, but in the meantime the full force of the existing criminal law should be utilised to the fullest extent possible when dealing with that minority of staff who treat our elderly like pieces of dirt,” concluded Deputy Nolan.