Suggestions by the Health Service Executive that the reason a number of private nursing homes scored poorly when they tendered for high-dependency beds last year was not related to their standards of care have been proven to be incorrect.
The Irish Times has learned that serious concerns were raised by a multidisciplinary team when it inspected a number of the homes to see if they should be awarded tenders to accept high-dependency patients out of the main acute hospitals.
Seven private nursing homes failed the tendering process for high-dependency beds and seven failed a tender process for intermediate-care beds. Serious concerns were raised about five of them. The homes that failed the tender process were located in Dublin, Wicklow, Cork, Offaly and Kerry. One of them was the Leas Cross nursing home in Swords, Co Dublin.
In one Dublin home, the multidisciplinary team found drug management problems and an out-of-date fire certificate.
In another Dublin home, they found no care plans in existence, while in a Wicklow home, they found a communal clothing system was in place, no care plans for patients, no clinical policies, and Buxton chairs were torn, which meant they were at risk of harbouring infections.
Another Wicklow home did not have enough staff and there were issues of concern about the administration of drugs.
Prof Des O'Neill, in his recent report on Leas Cross, recommended that residents and their families of any nursing homes that scored poorly in the tendering process in 2005 for heavy dependency/intermediate care beds "should be informed of this as a matter of some urgency, as there is a high likelihood that there are residents with high or maximum dependency in all of these nursing homes".
The HSE, after the report was published, said it had no plans to do this. It said while the tender process looked at a range of issues, homes could score poorly because they were too costly rather than as a result of their standards of care. The tender process was not designed as "an inspection measurement".
And when the HSE's Aidan Browne, who is responsible for services for the elderly, appeared before the Oireachtas health committee recently, he said Prof O'Neill's "assumption that a nursing home which was unsuccessful in a tendering process was unsuitable to provide care and welfare to clients was unreasonable".
However, when Prof O'Neill appeared before the same committee last Thursday, he said he was troubled that the HSE had not acted on his recommendation in relation to the homes that scored poorly in the tendering process. He said he understood there were five nursing homes that scored poorly for reasons other than their cost. After that meeting the HSE said any issues which needed to be followed up in these homes had been followed up.
When this newspaper contacted a number of these homes yesterday, the proprietors claimed they had not been told of any issues arising from the site visits. The proprietor whose nursing home was said to have a communal clothing system said she received an email in May last year telling her that her home had not been successful, but it said: "We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the time taken in preparation of your tender and look forward to doing business with your nursing home at some future date."