AN INVESTIGATION by the Health Service Executive (HSE) has found the care provided by a nurse to a woman in labour at Waterford Regional Hospital fell into the “category of neglect”.
A complaint against the nurse has been lodged with An Bord Altranais, the regulatory body for the nursing profession. Details of the inquiry into the nurse’s behaviour and into several other complaints against HSE staff and investigated in the past three years were released to Louth Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd under the Freedom of Information Act.
The information shows another nurse was referred to An Bord Altranais after an allegation was made that there was an inappropriate relationship between the staff member and a client of the Galway psychiatry services.
Other complaints upheld included one of elder abuse at a community nursing unit in Roscrea, after which a staff member was dismissed, and one into the alleged theft of client money by a HSE worker in the south Lee area. The staff member resigned and a Garda inquiry began.
A complaint about non-provision of meals to a patient in the Buncrana area of Donegal was upheld, as was an allegation that a staff member in the Wexford community services left a child unattended in a car. This staff member was redeployed as a home help.
An inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to a client in receipt of home help services from the HSE in Waterford is ongoing, as are several inquiries into abuse of patients in Dublin. One concerns alleged inappropriate sexual contact with a patient by a staff member.