Hiqa calls for 'urgent action' at Kerry nursing home as residents put to bed at 6pm

Activities available to residents now include a weekly music session with local musicians. Residents also said staff continued to be 'lovely and kind' to them.  File picture

Hiqa has urged “significant action” to address concerns at a public nursing home in Kerry, including complaints that residents are put to bed at 6pm.

This latest inspection of the West Kerry Community Hospital came seven weeks after the regulator raised serious concerns with the HSE.

Hiqa said the HSE had taken some steps to fix issues raised in earlier reports, but that many gaps remain.

Residents now have more activities, but the report notes “a large number of residents” seemed to spend all day in their rooms.

“After 6pm, on the first evening of this inspection, the majority of residents were back in their bedrooms, and there was limited use of communal rooms,” Hiqa said in its latest report.

Another issue raised in the initial report was of residents eating meals on tables off a corridor, but the dining hall was rearranged so it can now hold more people.

However, it still does not have room for everyone to eat together.

Medicine safety problems were also reported, including the door to the clinical room being left open.

Inspectors saw a key to a high-risk controlled medications cabinet hanging next to the cabinet.

Hiqa advised that more staff should be on duty at night, and a better register of training for workers, including a new training programme in the care of older people, run by a consultant geriatrician.

The HSE has committed to hiring more staff for night duties, which will mean residents can access the communal areas.

The health authority also committed to hiring more senior nurses and making changes to staff training.

A new system is being put in place to track medications, use of restraint, and other clinical issues, as well as standards for the storage of keys to the controlled medicines cupboard.

Inspectors were told during this visit by residents: “There had been more life in the centre over the past few weeks and more things to do.”

Activities now include a weekly music session with local musicians. Residents also said staff continued to be “lovely and kind” to them.

Hiqa nursing home reports 

Hiqa published 50 reports on nursing homes and centres for adults with disabilities. It found that 27 centres were fully or substantially compliant with the regulations.

The report on the Sunbeam House centre for adults with disabilities in Wicklow identified many improvements since a highly-critical report in October.

However, inspectors raised concerns at the Willowbrook Lodge Nursing Home in Fethard, Tipperary, about management systems.

Some new staff had started work before doing Garda vetting. When residents had falls, there was no analysis of why the incidents occurred, so this could be prevented.

There were also no audits of unexpected weight loss in residents.

At the Sonas Nursing Home in Carrick-on- Suir, Tipperary, inspectors said: “Management systems were not sufficiently robust to ensure the service was safe, appropriate, consistent and effectively monitored.”

This included inadequate oversight of complaints, with no evidence complaints were followed up on or acted upon.

At Adare and District Nursing Home in Limerick, inspectors raised concerns about the quality of the building despite a generally positive report.

Problems included scuffed walls and doors and damaged furniture.

• Niamh Griffin is Health Correspondent.