Hiqa ‘not responsible’ for nursing home closure

A health watchdog maintains it is not responsible for the imminent closure of a community nursing home in Co Cork, despite being accused of “putting a gun to the head” of its voluntary board and “treating nine elderly patients cruelly”.

The patients are to be moved out of Cara House, Skibbereen, by June 28 after Hiqa (Health Information and Quality Authority) identified 54 breaches of regulations at the facility.

The watchdog wrote to Skibbereen Geriatric Society board members on May 31 last telling them that if they didn’t address the breaches by the end of this month they would be liable for prosecution.