A grief-stricken daughter slammed the HSE over a 15 day wait for her dad’s Covid-19 test results after he lost his battle for life.
Anne Mooney does not know if the disease was to blame for her father’s death.
But she claimed ‘seven or eight’ other residents in the same nursing home experienced the same desperate delay of more than two weeks.
The distraught daughter also poignantly told how her 89 year-old dad, Gerry Ryan, had sung ‘Sweet Sixteen’ to her down the phone during their last chat.
Anne, from Newbridge, Co Kildare, described how her father got a chest infection but because of the virus, he was isolated.
She told RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline just after he passed away: “We don’t know [if he had Covid-19], my dad is 15 days waiting for his results, today is day 15.
“And there’s seven or eight other residents in the nursing home and they’re all waiting on results, their staff are waiting on results.
“The owner of the nursing home, who I had permission [from] to tell all this, she got in touch with the HSE and she said she’s banging her head off the wall.
“She emailed [Heath Minister] Simon Harris, got in touch with Prime Time and there’s nobody giving her any answers.
“She was told by the HSE that they were part of the community and that the results are all gone in with the communities, that’s wrong.
“These are our most vulnerable people.”
Anne said that her and her family were allowed individually to go in to see Gerry fully gowned up in protective gear and each stayed 10 minutes with him.
Anne recalled how on Wednesday night -just hours before he passed away -he was singing down the phone to her.
She said: “I had a video call with him last night, singing Sweet Sixteen, himself and his carer; he was mad about her and her about him.
“He thanked me for getting him Holy Communion because he wanted to make his confession.”
