Hiqa will continue to monitor ‘institutional’ centre for older people

Hiqa has said it will continue to monitor a centre for older people that was the subject of a legal wrangle last year between the health watchdog and the HSE.

St Joseph’s Hospital, in Ennis, Co Clare, was the subject of a hugely critical Hiqa inspection report last year which said it “appeared institutional”. In what was understood to be the first case of its kind, the HSE had also appealed to the local district court after Hiqa had earlier made critical observations about the centre and had ordered that it stay closed to new admissions.

Following last year’s Hiqa report, the HSE hit back at elements of its findings and also wrote to the county’s elected representatives to reassure them about standards of care at the facility.