The Health Service Executive (HSE) has refuted claims by the owner of Leas Cross nursing home in north Dublin that it approved his home as suitable for providing intermediate care for elderly patients discharged from acute hospitals earlier this year.
The HSE said yesterday that Leas Cross, at the centre of controversy since a Prime Time programme highlighted conditions in the private nursing home in Swords, had tendered for a contract to provide intermediate care for patients discharged from hospital under the health minister's 10-point A&E plan but it was not successful.
The HSE's comments came a day after John Aherne, owner of Leas Cross, claimed that in February the HSE judged his home was "meeting the criteria" for providing intermediate care.
In a statement the HSE said it "absolutely refutes" this.
It said the HSE tendered for intermediate care beds in early 2005 as part of the 10-point plan and that tendering was a two-stage process.
"The first stage is essentially a paper exercise, where written expressions of interest are evaluated against agreed criteria. Leas Cross nursing home passed through this initial paper evaluation, and this was communicated in writing to the proprietor in a standard letter.
"The second stage of the tender process involves a more detailed and comprehensive set of criteria, and site visits. Following this decisive stage of the tender process, Leas Cross was deemed not to be suitable for provision of these intermediate care beds. Once again, this was communicated to the nursing home in a standard letter," it added.
The nursing home is to close on August 1st.