The healthcare watchdog has referred to gardaí its concerns about “care deficits” in two nursing homes run by Emeis Ireland, TDs and senators are to hear.
Representatives from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) will on Wednesday appear before the Oireachtas Health Committee to discuss standards of care and related practices in nursing homes along with the oversight of these matters.
The appearance follows an RTÉ Investigates programme on June 4th highlighting instances of alleged abuse and neglect of frail, elderly residents at two nursing homes: Beneavin House, Dublin, and The Residence, Portlaoise. Both homes are run by Emeis, the largest provider of private nursing home beds in the State.
The programme included footage of frail, older people, some of whom had dementia, allegedly being manhandled, “forced” down into chairs, being left in chairs for hours, being left in incontinence pads for so long their clothes were soaked, being ignored when they pleaded for help to go to the toilet and requests for simple activities like going for a walk being fobbed off.
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In her opening statement to the committee, Angela Fitzgerald, chief executive of Hiqa, is expected to say the conduct of staff and the behaviours witnessed in the RTÉ programme are “wholly unacceptable in any circumstance”.
“Hiqa’s chief inspector is addressing these fundamental issues directly with the nursing homes and its parent company, Emeis Ireland, and is engaging in additional escalatory actions,” her statement says.
“These include conducting a number of unannounced inspections in both Firstcare Beneavin Manor and The Residence Portlaoise over the past two weeks, including during the early hours of the morning, late at night and during the day.”
Ms Fitzgerald is to say the chief inspector required an immediate meeting with senior officials from Emeis Ireland following the programme.
“The providers of the two nursing homes were issued with an official warning of cancellation of registration should they fail to implement significant improvements in the centres,” she is to say.
“Emeis Ireland told us what immediate action they have taken, including: restricting admissions in Beneavin Manor pending their assurance and ours that the services in these nursing homes are safe; disciplinary action with a number of staff; and notifications to the gardaí.
“We have also notified the gardaí about our concerns on the care deficits observed in the programme.”
Ms Fitzgerald is to say Hiqa has sought “immediate assurances” on the other 23 homes run by Emeis Ireland and these will be independently assessed in the coming weeks.
She is also to expected say Emeis has “significant work to do”, but acknowledges so too does Hiqa “in relation to reviewing our regulatory process”.
“We are fully committed to examining what we can learn from recent revelations, and we have commenced work in this regard,” she is to say.
