Hiqa probes alleged abuses at St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork

The State’s health services watchdog was alerted about two alleged incidents of abuse by staff at St Finbarr’s Hospital, Cork.

The Health Information and Quality Authority received information about the incidents after a resident was found to have unexplained bruising in May last year. Before making the unannounced inspection of the HSE-run facility last October, the authority had asked the hospital to investigate the allegations and provide it with a report.

The hospital was unaware of the first incident that occurred in September 2014 but knew about the second one which occurred last July. It initiated a disciplinary process in relation to first incident that was ongoing at the time of the inspection but found that the second one was unsubstantiated.