Rush Hall neglect case: Family say they have been ‘let down’ by the justice system

The distraught family of a Derry woman who was wilfully neglected during her care at a Limavady nursing home say their “wonderful mother” has been let down by the justice system.

The family of the late Eileen Bruce from the Waterside spoke emotionally outside Limavady Magistrate’s Court today after care assistant Joanne Doherty from Anderson Crescent in the town received a four-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

Mrs Bruce, a mother of four and who worked as a cook at Ebrington Primary School, died three months after the incident at Rush Hall due to unrelated illness. She was 86 years old. Her son, Keith said Eileen Bruce was “a wonderful mother and grandmother loved by all”. He said she had spent the last two years of her life in Rush Hall and didn’t deserve what happened to her.

“Obviously, we are very disappointed as a family,” said Keith, who thanks the PSNI for all their assistance with the investigation. “This is like a second mourning for our mother and, to be honest, I thought the judge bottled it. There have been so many cases in the last few months involving care homes, and neglect to people, it’s time the judiciary stood up and put these people where they should be. The lady has appealed the sentence and that is prolonging the case even more, because obviously we will have to return to court and await the outcome. The saga continues.”

Mrs Bruce’s son-in-law, Joe Carr said the family feel Eileen Bruce has been “let down”. He said there doesn’t seem to be proper guide lines or a law in place to deal adequately with the issue of neglect and vulnerable patients. He said that must be addressed. The family stress there is a lot of good, caring staff in Rush Hall and they do not want to criticise them.

“Rush Hall said that was the best place for our mother and we took their word. We trusted them,” said Keith. “We knew our mother wouldn’t live forever, but this has put it into our heads, ‘was what happened a contributing factor to her death three months later?’”

Daughter of Eileen Bruce, Margaret Halpenny says she is “disgusted” and feels very angry at the sentence. Her sister, Ruth Carr believes an investigation by the Western Trust is needed in order to get justice for their mother.

The management of Rush Hall have apologised to the Bruce family and acknowledged in the case against the care assistant, Joanne Doherty, “there was a serious failure to follow policies and procedure that are in place in the home”.

“We have met with the Bruce family and expressed our sincere apologies, which we repeat publicly,” Rush Hall management told the ‘Journal’ in a statement.

Rush Hall management say they have made several changes since the incident, including a new manager in place and new appointments of nursing and care staff. Refresher training has also taken place to reinforce procedures. Management say they are grateful for the vigilance of caring staff who raised their concerns about the case.

“The overwhelming majority of our nursing and care staff do a difficult job extraordinarily well, day after day to make life better for the people living in our home,” said the Rush Hall statement. “Regrettably sometimes all of these policies, procedures and checks fail to ensure good care is consistently delivered and we are very sorry this happened with Mrs. Bruce. It is deeply disappointing and upsetting whenever we come across the exceptions who let down their colleagues and the people in their care.”