THE HEALTH Information and Quality Authority has defended the standards it applies to care homes for the elderly after management at a voluntary hospital that is about to close said the standards are “very difficult to achieve”.
Ten residents living at Martin Hospital, a voluntarily run welfare home in Portlaw, Co Waterford, are to be relocated to other facilities in the area following a decision by the authority to cancel the facility’s registration.
An appeal by the home’s management committee against that decision was withdrawn this week and the closure is expected within the next week.
Established in a historic building on Queen Street more than 100 years ago by Lord Waterford, the hospital has provided a home to elderly residents who are described as “independent” and need minimal assistance but prefer not to live alone.
Staff were yesterday said to be “devastated” at the upcoming closure and are liaising with the HSE to provide alternative arrangements for the residents.
“We’re all very upset and disappointed,” the designated provider from the management committee, Gillian Wills, said.
Asked if she felt the hospital had been fairly treated, Ms Wills said: “The standards are very high. They’re very difficult to achieve.”
She said the committee plans to reopen the facility as a daycare centre for the elderly at some point.
“It’s early days but we would hope to do that. We haven’t had an opportunity to consider it all yet.”
A spokesman for the authority said the regulations were set by the Oireachtas. “The standards are set by law for good reason . . . They’re there, from our perspective, to ensure that residents are safe and receive a quality of care that they deserve.”
In September 2010 the authority’s inspectors told management to “urgently address” a number of issues surrounding “inadequate fire procedures, protection of vulnerable adults, medication management systems and a lack of qualified nursing staff on night duty”.
By April of last year, inspectors found there had been a “marginal but unsatisfactory” improvement at the hospital. They also noted that staff were “kind to residents” and well-intentioned, and the residents spoke highly of the employees.
Care was “kind but basic” and the inspection found a service that “lacked vision and a clear future direction” as well as “no evidence of strong clinical leadership or a culture of ongoing review, continuous improvement or an understanding of delivery of quality service”.
Margaret Power, whose 86-year-old mother, Mary Walsh, has lived in Martin Hospital for the last two years, said that news of the closure was “very upsetting” and that it leaves the future uncertain.
“We don’t know where she’s going to go, or even if she’ll be in the same county,” she said. “She loves it here. It’s her home.”
Ms Power said there were people “in tears” in the hospital when residents and their families were told of the pending closure.