Fire safety concerns at a number of nursing homes
Inspections reports have found fire safety concerns at a number of nursing homes, including at one where office furniture was blocking a designated escape route.
The inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority into the St Eithne's Rest Care Centre in Co Roscommon found that adequate arrangements had not been made for detecting and containing fires or for issuing fire warnings.
HIQA asked the provider of the Castlerea facility, TSP Suil Ar Aghai Company Limited, to take immediate action to address the fire safety risks.
Among the areas of non-compliance was a lack of suitable equipment available to safely move or transfer residents from a wheelchair to a chair, a lack of up-to-date training for staff, and a designated escape route being impeded by office furniture.
HIQA also noted that the person in charge did not have sufficient time to carry out her management duties as she was the only registered nurse on duty on the days she was working in the centre. It also found care staff were engaged in laundry, kitchen, catering, activities and cleaning duties on any given day and that infection prevention and control practices did not reflect best practice and increased the risk of infection spread in the centre.
It was issued with a Compliance Plan, as was Corrandulla Nursing Home, run by Hayden healthcare Ltd, in Galway, where HIQA said poor practices were observed that were the accepted norm. These included a lack of adequate supervision of residents, who also had to give 24 hours' notice if they wanted to have a fry for their breakfast.
Fire concerns were also noted at the Powdermill Nursing Home & Care Centre, run by JCP Powdermill Care Centre Limited at Gunpowdermills, Ballincollig, Cork.
HIQA said the service was generally excellent but some improvements were required, including a review of the dependency levels of residents accommodated on the first floor to ensure they could be evacuated in a timely manner, particularly at night.
Also in Co Cork, the HSE-run Skibbereen Community Hospital was found to be non-compliant against six standards assessed by HIQA. In addition to poor premises layout and lack of suitable storage, HIQA raised concerns over Garda vetting at the facility.
"The person in charge informed the inspector, however, that there was no Garda (police) vetting clearance documentation on site for any staff member," the report said. "In addition, eight staff were currently undergoing the process of acquiring renewed Garda vetting clearance as previous records had not been maintained by the Registered Provider
"The required Garda Vetting documentation was not available on-site for the staff employed in the centre," it said. "A number of GV applications were yet to be processed. A record of visitors had not been maintained. Not all medication incidents were recorded as errors; for example, when a syringe driver containing medicines had been interfered with by a resident."
An urgent action plan was issued to the provider, while the report also said: "Issues remained unresolved in relation to the regulatory requirements for the provision of a safe, consistent and appropriate service. The arrangements for management support in the absence of the assistant person in charge had not been clarified."
*www.hiqa.ie
