Overly restrictive visits to elderly in nursing homes among issues Hiqa report identifies

Non-compliance was identified in areas including; governance, residents’ rights, infection control, fire precautions, medicines and pharmaceutical services, staffing, and managing challenging behaviour.

The health watchdog has found a series of non-compliances at residential centres for older people, including one where “overly restricted” visiting arrangements were impacting residents’ quality of life.

Inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found just 15 out of 45 centres were fully compliant or substantially compliant with the national standards and regulations at the time of their inspection.