No showers for a month at hospital
An inspection report for St Patrick’s Community Hospital in Summerhill, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, which is a centre for older people, also found other shortcomings at the centre, including inadequate staffing, compliance issues and the lack of a suitable chair, resulting in some residents being bed-bound.
It also said there were a number of issues linked to fire safety at the facility, which was home to 82 residents at the time of the inspection.
St Patrick’s Hospital comprises of four units accommodating male and female residents over the age of 65 years. It provides physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, dental treatment, and palliative care services, and also has a daycare centre that provides a service for up to 25 people daily.
The inspection — a follow-up review conducted by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) — assessed 18 outcomes and found six were compliant. There was major non-compliance in four outcomes, with five others found to be moderately non-compliant.
The inspection report raised concerns about the physical design and layout of the facility and also said: “The lack of effective management, responsibility and accountability for the delivery of supervision and training for staff and poor delivery of care resulted in major non-compliance in the governance and management of this centre.
“In addition, the annual review of the quality and safety of care did not identify the care and welfare issues identified by the inspectors, or actions required to address the issues in a specific, timely and efficient manner.”
Residents and family members told inspectors they were happy with the services provided by this hospital, but they were concerned about the inadequate staffing in the centre.
Inspectors had previously found that personal care, such as showers/baths, were not frequently offered to residents in accordance with their care plan.
On this inspection, they found residents were offered a shower once every two weeks, but that, on occasions when residents had declined the offer of a bath/shower, or if there were no staff available on that particular day, residents had not received a shower/bath for a month or more.
At least 22 residents in the centre were permanently bed-dependent, including 10 in one ward. While some residents were too frail to get out of bed, other residents did not have the appropriate seating equipment to ensure that they could sit out comfortably in a suitable chair during the day.
“This lack of equipment had resulted in some residents being bed-bound,” according to the report.
The audit showed that there were 110 falls in the centre in 2014, 47 falls in the first six months of the year and 63 in the last six months.
