Inspections at home showed ‘deficits in care’
Prior to an overhaul of checks when the RTÉ exposé revealed neglect at the home, the focus during inspections was on physical surroundings at the facility.
This changed after the death of Dorothy Black in early 2004, contends Prof O’Neill.
An individual inspection report on January 22, 2004, outlined “a complete lack of formal assessment procedures or protocols for pressure sores, as well as scanty and poor documentation with no evidence of appropriate care, inadequate staffing and skill mix”.
These issues become a recurrent feature at the care home over the next 18 months, notes Prof O’Neill.
Despite Leas Cross saying it was working with the Northern Area Health Board, this also became a recurrent response, notes Prof O’Neill.
Another visiting report in July that year noted severe deficiencies in An Bord Altranais medication regulations as well as access to a doctor at the home.
By April 2005, only weeks before the undercover investigation into Leas Cross went out on television, a further inspection reported problems.
These included deficits in staffing, communications, adequacy of records, drug administration files as well as notification of deaths to the health board.
The pattern of the reporting of the subsequent inspections, with one exception, show ongoing concerns over the standard of care, according to Prof O’Neill’s draft investigation findings.
By June last year, weeks after the RTÉ expose, an unannounced inspection added to owner John Aherne’s woes. These included findings of breaches of good practice at the facility, professional guidelines and the misuse of drugs under regulations.
Despite a temporary team sent in by health chiefs in 2005 to overhaul the home after the scandal emerged on RTÉ, what was found was just an echo of concerns noted before
“This is a devastating amplification and clarification of the many concerns... dating back,” noted Prof O’Neill.
