Hiqa calls for more powers to protect vulnerable nursing home residents

The Oaklands Nursing Home at Listowel, Co Kerry. Picture: Dan Linehan

The chief inspector of health watchdog Hiqa has said the case of the Oaklands facility in Kerry showed “due to limitations on our legal powers, we had to wait until the management of, and safety of care in, a nursing home had deteriorated to a significant level until we could cancel its registration”.

Mary Dunnion writes in today that the recent court order on Oaklands Nursing Home highlighted the need for legislative change. She said: “People should not be subjected to significantly deteriorating care and service quality to the point their very lives are at risk because of legal limitations.”