Nursing home may face action over safety failings

The State’s health watchdog has warned it is considering taking regulatory action against a Cork nursing home which failed to address concerns raised about the safety and suitability of its premises.

The Health Information and Quality Authority advised that “significant improvements” were required in the design, layout, and maintenance of St Joseph’s Community Hospital in Millstreet. It was also critical of the centre’s failure to notify it of an unexpected death of a resident.

In an inspection report published yesterday, Hiqa said the HSE-run home was “not in a good state of repair” and St Joseph’s was “majorly non-compliant” with regulations in place to ensure residents live in a safe and suitable premises.

The report’s authors, who inspected the premises last March, noted improvements, recommended from a previous inspection, had yet to be implemented.

Hiqa decided against publishing the centre’s responses to the concerns raised regarding the suitability of the premises. “The response submitted by the provider to this action did not satisfactorily address the failings identified in this report. The authority has taken the decision not to publish this response and is considering further regulatory action in relation to this issue,” the report stated.

The report found all 24 of the home’s beds are on the ground floor of the two-storey facility. There are two 11-bed dormitories along with two other bedrooms.

“The beds in the dormitories were close together and did not support residents’ privacy and dignity,” the report found.

It said a common room for male residents was only accessible by going through the male dormitory, resulting in it “being used as a thoroughfare by visitors and staff while some residents remained in their beds”.

Hiqa discovered one resident, who was dying, was accommodated in one of the 11-bed wards and private family visits with the resident could not be facilitated.

Inspectors also found walls damaged by dampness, broken wall tiles, and inadequate storage space for residents’ personal belongings and equipment. Sanitary facilities were also described as inadequate.

“Sanitary facilities comprised four toilets, none of which were wheelchair accessible,” the report found.

It noted that the four cubicles “did not adequately support the privacy and dignity of residents”.

“Inspectors observed that one resident used the toilet and had to leave a mobility assistance device outside the door as the toilet was too small. Toilet facilities were not suitably located so as to be easily accessed by residents in all parts of the premises,” the inspectors wrote.

The report was also critical of the processes in place for the storage and disposal of medications, describing them as “not safe”. The medication storage press had an excess supply of medications which were dispensed for residents but were no longer needed.

While residents and their relatives were complimentary of the care received at St Joseph’s, inspectors found some staff members were not aware of safeguarding arrangements in the event of an allegation of abuse.

However, the report noted that there have been no allegations of abuse and residents spoken with stated that they felt safe in the centre.

The report’s authors also noted there were “regular issues regarding residents’ clothes going missing on return from the laundry” and that “there was no hanging space for clothes in the residents’ clothes storage press”.