Government has announced a Department of Health official will take over administration duties at the Pembroke Rest Home until a replacement is found after several individuals have accused the rest home of sub standard care.

On Friday in the House of Assembly Minister of Health, Patrice Minors, tabled a response to Parliamentary questions raised by Shadow Minister of Health, Louise Jackson. In it she stated that the Department has monitored the rest home periodically.

The tabled response denied allegations by Mrs. Jackson that the Government has ignored the rest home. The statement said that in November an Environment and Health official as well as a Coordinator for Seniors visited and inspected the facility.

It also stated that the inspections did not find any "significant issues with nursing care".

Several articles appeared in The Mid Ocean News and The Royal Gazette in November regarding the standard of care at the facility.

Anonymous employees and Mrs. Jackson, complained that the residents of the rest home had festering bed sores, a cook that smoked while preparing food and a staff that neglected them. The first article regarding the rest home appeared on November 4 in The Mid Ocean News.

Other employees of the rest home later disputed the allegations of neglect and said they had the residents' best interests at heart. In a letter to The Royal Gazette many of the staff said the problem was not nursing care but insufficient funding and the need for a full time Nurse Administrator.

They also complained that the Pembroke Council had not gone to bat for them against the allegations of shoddy care.

Late November the council released a statement assuring the public that "the majority of staff at the Nursing Home are caring, committed and dedicated individuals who work under sometimes extremely difficult circumstances to ensure that the resident get the best of care that can be provided."

Yesterday, in response to parliamentary questions, the Ministry of Health denied the allegations of poor nursing but acknowledged that the facility needs of a full time administrator.

"In conjunction with the Pembroke Parish Council, the Department of Health has agreed to administer the facility in the short term to ensure appropriate administrative procedures are maintained and to allow the recruitment of a permanent, full time nursing staff."