Residents in unlisted beds for years: Hiqa

An inspection has found that two residents in a nursing home had been staying in unregistered beds “for a number of years”.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) inspected St Catherine’s Nursing Home, run by Newcastle West Nursing Home Limited in Limerick, last October when it had 63 residents.

“Inspectors found that the centre was operating in breach of the Health Act 2007 in that there were two dependent residents residing in unregistered beds and this situation had been in place for a number of years,” it said.

Hiqa also referred to “a history of increasing levels of regulatory non- compliance identified on the previous two inspections undertaken in the centre in September 2016 and April 2018”, some of which were of a “serious nature”.

The inspectors found while there had been a number of significant improvements at the centre, more action was required, pinpointing shortcomings such as unexplained gaps in some CVs, photographic identification missing for one staff member, and substantial delays in answering resident call bells.

Hiqa published 49 inspection reports, including into the HSE-operated St Ita’s Community Hospital in Gortboy, Newcastlewest, Limerick, where at the time of the Hiqa visit, there was an infection outbreak which the health watchdog said may have been the result of some staff taking on “multi-task roles”.

The centre was home to 70 residents at the time and according to Hiqa: “One unit had implemented access control protocols due to an outbreak of a healthcare-related infection. Circumstances that could contribute to compromised infection control arrangements included the continued practice of multi-task attendants undertaking duties in relation to both cleaning and personal care in the course of a shift.”

It said management accepted this, combined with other factors, created an increased risk of healthcare-related infections.

It said:

While the findings of this inspection indicated that a very good standard of care was provided for residents in some areas of the centre, such as the dementia specific unit, overall the registered provider was not effectively ensuring that an appropriate and safe service was being consistently provided for all the residents living in St Ita’s Community Hospital.

It found that “actual staffing levels did not reflect those allocated on the roster”.

Among other reports published, Hiqa said of the HSE-run Kanturk Community Hospital, which had 34 residents: “The totality of the fire risks as encountered, have raised concerns about fire safety management in this centre.”

In all cases, commitments were given by providers to address the issues that were raised.

*Read the reports here.