Dear Madam, - It is good to read that the relatives of a resident in the Graan Nursing Home are grateful to the management and staff for treating their sister with dignity whilst in their care, it is disappointing however to read that they believe the regulators dwell only on the negatives.

Unfortunately it is not a perfect world and I am sure the RQIA would prefer to report favourably on every visit they make, however it is their responsibility to register and inspect nursing and residential homes to ensure that they meet the statutory standards for patient environment, safety, care and management. It would appear that their inspector discovered issues that fell below the accepted standards and took appropriate action. We the public should accept nothing less than the highest standards for our elderly parents and relatives when we trust their care to others who are rewarded well for doing so. We should be grateful to the staff in the home who allegedly alerted the RQIA to the perceived problems and to the RQIA itself for taking appropriate action and generally for the work they do on our behalf.

The whole topic of nursing and residential care has never been far away from the news recently. There has been much debate about residential care and in particular the closure of Creamery House in Kesh which apparently has been deemed to be of an unacceptable environmental standard.

This raises a much wider question, who decided and why did this little village become the major location in the county and beyond for so many young adults with learning difficulties and how and why did their care change from private care management to Praxis with the property and buildings funded by others and then change again to the Western Health and Social Care Trust?

Questions need to be asked about funding this change, cost of change and who benefited most financially from this. I think certainly not the residents or their families. The principles of care in the community should have been applied where it is possible, it surely must be better socially for the individuals to enable them to stay in an environment they are familiar with and to fund the care in their family home.

Whilst many nursing and residential home owners complain about levels of funding, it is nothing less than fair that for any rewards we should demand nothing less than the best.

Yours faithfully, Name and address supplied