There has been another twist in the unfolding tale of Kilkenny’s Avondale Nursing Home, which was permanently closed this week by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA ).
The HSE took over the facility last month, and began moving the residents elsewhere over concerns for their safety and welfare. However, it now emerges that home’s owners also stand accused of theft by the former residents.
Gardai are investigating accusations that the home’s two directors – Miriam Holmes and her daughter Hayley – stole substantial sums of money, medication, and personal public service cards from the residents over a period of time.
Now, however, it is believed that the women have left the country. The pair were last seen boarding an airport shuttle bus, and personal items left behind in their hotel room include a book entitled Beginning Life in Australia.
Other items discovered in the mother and daughter’s room in the Marriott Hotel in Ashbourne, Co Meath, included a quantity of prescription drugs belonging to the residents of the nursing home, as well as several personal public service cards.
The discovery of the cards appears to support the residents’ accusations of financial abuse, including an alleged unauthorised withdrawal of a client’s pension in Callan. Other clients have since come forward with stories of being pressured into handing over significant amounts of money to the nursing home owners.
One former resident has alleged that a cheque for €1,500 was taken from him the day before the facility was closed. Another claims to have previously given the owner €5,000 in a cheque made out to Hayley Holmes.
The last of Avondale’s occupants have at this stage been transferred to alternative accommodation. While the case, heard in Carlow District Court, has ended with the home’s registration, the Garda investigation into the theft allegations remains ongoing. In addition, the nursing home’s owners may face prosecution from HIQA for breaching multiple regulations of the 2007 Health Act.
“We welcome the decision of the district court in relation to Avondale Nursing Home,” said HIQA director of communications, Marty Whelan.
“The cancellation of the nursing home’s registration represents the end of one part of the process. HIQA is currently considering further appropriate action, in accordance with our ‘zero tolerance’ approach to elder abuse.”
The extent of the Kilkenny nursing home’s inadequacies became increasingly clear as the case unfolded in district court. When Health Service officials moved in to take over the facility in July they found that food stocks were dangerously low, and that residents were being discharged without the necessary consultation with their next-of-kin and GP.
HSE authorities said the actions of Miriam and Hayley Holmes had amounted to the “wilful and reckless abandonment of the nursing home and its residents”.
In addition, as many as 30 of the nursing home’s former staff, who lost their jobs following its closure, were not paid their final salaries. A number of them were involved in bringing the authorities’ attention to the poor conditions in the facility.
Authorities have been unable to establish contact with Miriam or Hayley Holmes since July 21, the day following the home’s takeover by the HSE.
