SIPTU representatives have demanded immediate and swift action from Government to ensure safe staffing levels are implemented across the private nursing home sector without delay.
The call comes following the shocking RTÉ Investigates programme last night that has left many working in the sector completed shattered and angry over the way older people have been treated.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Liz Cloherty said: “The devastating reality is that the Government has effectively outsourced the care of our elderly to a for-profit sector primarily concerned with the bottom line for years and we are seeing the fruits of that now before our very eyes. A failed Government policy has led to this scandal, we have to rethink how the sector is run as a matter of urgency. We have written to Minister of State for Older People, Kieran O’Donnell TD seeking an urgent meeting to deal with issues arising from these revelations.”
“The absolutely shocking revelations laid bare the systemic violation of our most vulnerable citizens. It has damaged public trust in privatised care systems, and rightly so. The programme exposed how profit-driven operators routinely deny residents essentials like basic hygiene products to boost their bottom line. This isn’t care, it’s all-round exploitation.”
She added: “Most damning was seeing how chronic understaffing and a lack of regulation, directly caused by poverty wages in the sector has shattered the morale of care workers while compromising patient safety. It has to stop. This is the inevitable result of a State that refuses to properly value care work.”