A health board in Dublin has told the High Court it wants to close a nursing home that has been discovered administering discontinued drugs to 23 elderly patients.
Ms Mary Phelan, counsel for the South Western Area Health Board, told Mr Justice Vivian Lavin it would be seeking to close down the home when it returned to court for injunctions tomorrow.
She said Rostrevor Nursing Home, owned by Ms Teresa Lipsett, at 66 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin, had been found to have breached terms of the Nursing Homes Act, the Health Act and Nursing Home Care and Welfare Regulations.
Inspectors had visited the home twice this month and had found breaches of drug administration, fire safety and staffing levels for the 23 residents, 11 of whom were dependent and required assistance. Fire drills had not been carried out, the door of the home had been left unlocked and there had been cases of residents wandering, the court heard.
Ms Phelan said the Board had written to Ms Lipsett on Monday advising her it would be seeking to remove the nursing home from the Register of Nursing homes.
She told Judge Lavin the Board intended to use a one-week transition period during which the residents would be moved to alternative accommodation. The residents' families and GPs would be contacted and a helpline would be opened for relatives.
Mr Justice Lavin said the case had a long history. Serious concerns had been expressed by a medical doctor in January 2001 and again in March 2002. The court had to take cognizance of the serious allegations against the owner of the home.
Ms Phelan said the residents were very elderly people and a close-down of the home would present an enormous shock to them. The health board could not take over the home. While there were a number of care assistants, there were insufficient nurses and it had been found that one nurse had been rostered for 72 hours in one week.
She said prosecutions had been brought in the District Court but even if the District Court held in favour of the board it would not mean that the home would be closed down.
Judge Lavin granted the board leave to issue short notice of its intention to seek closure of the home tomorrow morning.