More than 30 assaults are alleged to have taken place at a nursing home where a resident was raped by a member of staff, according to HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster.
A governance review into the HSE-run home where the resident was sexually assaulted in 2020 has found other residents alleged similar incidents involving the same healthcare worker, but these were not followed up. The staff member was jailed for 11 years for the rape of the resident, known by the pseudonym Emily, in that year.
Speaking on Sunday, Mr Gloster said various numbers of alleged incidents at the home were under consideration, ranging up to “in excess of 30″.
He stressed that not all the alleged assaults involved the one perpetrator: “These are safeguarding concerns right across the spectrum.”
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Mr Gloster repeated his earlier apology to the family of Emily, who died in 2021, saying there was “no excusing or explaining the abhorrent experience” she had in the latter stages of her life.
He said a HSE official has been in contact with families of residents at the nursing home and he intends to meet Emily’s family.
The HSE has appointed a Northern Irish adult safeguarding expert, Jackie McIlroy, to report on whether there is a basis for a wider investigation into incidents at the home, which has accommodated over 400 residents since it opened, Mr Gloster told RTÉ radio. The perpetrator of the rape worked in the facility for more than 15 years.
He said he had asked Ms McIlroy to investigate because he was not satisfied “we yet fully understand all of the issues in this facility or indeed those arising in the wider care context”.
The case has also ready prompted a safeguarding report and a separate report by the National Independent Review Panel (Nirp).
Ms McIlroy will report within six weeks and advised the HSE “if a further examination of individual records is required in the context of identifying past harm”.
Asked whether he will published these reports on the nursing home, Mr Gloster pointed to a court order protecting the identity of Emily and the home. But he said he hoped to publish a “summary” of the Nirp report and “extracts” from the safeguarding report.
Ms McIlroy has also been asked to undertake a high-level review of the HSE’s overall safeguarding structures, he said.
The staff member’s criminal behaviour only came to light as a result of the cognitive clarity, emotional strength and bravery of Emily, RTÉ News reported last week, citing the Nirp report. It found that that when female residents made allegations against the worker in the past, they were not believed and the allegations were not followed up on.
