Nursing home fined €8,000 for regulation breaches

THE owner of a Dublin nursing home has been fined €8,000 and ordered to pay an additional €2,500 in costs for a series of breaches of nursing home regulations.

Therese Lipsett, aged 50, a registered nurse and proprietor of Rostrevor Nursing Home on Orwell Rd, Rathgar, yesterday pleaded guilty to 10 offences following extended legal argument on the third day of the trial at Dublin District Court.

Ms Lipsett originally faced 25 separate charges after Health Service Executive (HSE) officials uncovered a series of problems relating to patient care during inspections at Rostrevor on dates between September 2003 and May 2004.

However, eight charges were withdrawn by the HSE after Ms Lipsett agreed to plead guilty to other offences.

Judge Anne Ryan struck out five more charges after she ruled that the prosecution had failed to provide documentary evidence in court. These related to the alleged failure of the nursing home to keep proper records about the administration of drugs and patient care. A further two charges had earlier been withdrawn by the prosecution.

Ms Lipsett was fined €500 for failing to provide a bed and bedding for a 101-year-old woman who, the court had earlier heard, slept in a chair every night.

Despite such an irregularity in nursing care, the judge stressed that the evidence had shown that the resident had been comfortable at all times.

Judge Ryan said she accepted that the HSE had only ever alleged that the elderly patient had not been provided with a bed for just one day and not one year.

Ms Lipsett was also fined €500 for failing to ensure a high standard of nursing care in relation to a male patient with pressure sores who was left sitting with equipment whose use had been discontinued under best medical practice.

Judge Ryan imposed a fine of €875 for each of the eight other convictions. They related to failures by Ms Lipsett to comply with registration conditions, the safekeeping of medicines and the retention of patients’ records, among others.

In a statement issued last night, the HSE welcomed the outcome of the judgement in its prosecution against the nursing home.

Although it failed in a High Court action in August 2004 to remove Rostrevor from its register of nursing homes, the HSE said it was no longer pursuing this procedure as later inspections showed the facility was now in compliance with regulations.