Claims that one man hadn't a bath for five weeks and other patients had to lie in soiled beds because of waiting undue lengths of time to, use the toilet were made at a meeting of Shannon Town Commissioners on Tuesday night last. All the claims made at the meeting have been totally refuted by the General Manager at St. Joseph's, Seamus McNulty. The scathing attack about conditions in the hospital was made by Commsr. Mike McKee, who prefaced his comments by stressing that the nurses were not to blame for what was taking place. He claimed that there was only one trained nurse on duty in one unit at night and the lack of curtains for some patients was affecting their privacy.
Elderly people deserve better.
Some patients have to wait undue lengths of time to go to the toilet, very often up to an hour and this leads to soiled beds and sheets. Headphones for radios haven't been replaced when they are broken. Certain wards containing alzheimers patients have been locked and other patients in the same wards couldn't take a walk down the corridor. The patient care is exemplary from the nurses who are second to none, but the conditions are deplorable. He explained St. Joseph's accommodated up to 266 elderly patients who suffered from different medical problems including dimensia.