Social distancing 'an issue' at Cork care home nearly two months after 10 Covid-19 deaths

Hiqa inspected the centre in June after 10 people had died and found it to be compliant in just five of 21 areas. 

Hiqa found the centre remained non-compliant in the majority of areas, two months after 10 people had died from coronavirus. File picture: Denis Minihane.

A Cork care home where 10 people died after contracting Covid-19 was found to be substantially non-compliant with some of the most basic health regulations when inspected two months after the deaths.

A damning Hiqa report into the HSE-run Clonakilty Community Hospital less than two months after a deadly outbreak there shows it was compliant in just five of 21 regulations it was inspected for in June.

And it confirms reports earlier this year that the HSE allowed infected residents to share bedrooms with residents who had previously tested negative for the virus.

The report also points out that when Hiqa tried to impose restrictions on the HSE’s licence to run the facility, the HSE challenged Hiqa in court.

The HSE has since withdrawn this appeal. 

The report states that since the outbreak earlier this year, it is still difficult for residents to keep socially distant from each other.

“In addition to impacting on the quality of life of residents, limitations to the environment does not allow for residents to physically distance,” Hiqa notes.

“This is due to the multi-occupancy nature of bedrooms and the lack of communal sitting and dining space.

“It also limits the options available to isolate residents in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease.” 

The report is the latest glaring example of how difficult it is to police the residential care sector, even where those centres are run by the State.

The report, published today, notes that while handling the outbreak in April, the HSE breached vital guidelines issued by the Health Protection and Surveillance Centre (HPSC).

And it was during this outbreak that Hiqa made a number of observations based on frequent communications with the management of the centre.

One of the most damning was the fact that “it was evident the HSE was not adhering to and implementing the HPSC national guidelines”.

The watchdog said this was in relation to the isolation and quarantining of residents that were suspected of being infected by the Covid-19 virus.

It said it also related to residents who had tested positive for the virus, or were known contacts of residents that tested positive for the virus.

Hiqa said in today's report that these risks to residents and staff were repeatedly escalated to the HSE at a national level on dates including 17 April, 22 April and 27 April.

Hiqa said: “The HSE responded that as a consequence of the limitations of the physical premises, residents who tested positive for the virus remained in shared bedrooms with residents that may have previously tested negative for the virus or were not showing symptoms of the virus.” 

On the days of the unannounced June inspection, none of the 77 residents present had Covid-19.

This centre's registration was previously renewed in April 2016 and since then, there have been six inspections of this centre.

Hiqa notes that Clonakilty Community Hospital had significant levels of non-compliance in all of those six inspections.

And it pointed out that it has repeatedly flagged its concerns to the HSE via reports and face-to-face meetings.