SOME RESIDENTS were only taken out of bed every second day at a HSE-run nursing home in Athlone due to staff shortages, an independent inspection found.
The inspection of Loughloe House by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) in February found “exceptionally high” levels of sick leave among staff. As a result, agency nurses were sometimes left in charge of the home at night without supervision or support.
Staff shortages meant “residents were left unsupervised for long periods of time while staff attended to other residents’ needs”.
On the day of the inspection, one-third of residents were in bed by lunchtime. Some residents said they would have liked to get up but no one had come to help them.
“There was poor provision of meaningful activity and a lack of social interaction for all residents. This was especially significant for residents who were unable to leave their rooms because of staff shortages,” the report says.
The unannounced inspection of the home, which has over 30 residents, took place after Hiqa gained information about an alleged incident of verbal abuse of a resident by a staff member. An initial HSE investigation of this was inadequate, the report says.
Inspectors also found a lack of leadership and governance at the home “as evidenced by management’s inability to confirm if agency staff had been Garda vetted and in the management of complaints”.
The standard of hygiene in the home was also poor, “with visible black dust and soiled surfaces throughout”. There were concerns too about fire safety.
Records showed three incidents of alleged abuse of residents occurred, two of which were alleged abuse of a resident by staff, while the third was an alleged incident of financial abuse where an unknown person was said to have stolen money from a resident. “This incident was not recognised as potential abuse and was not investigated accordingly,” the report says.
When inspectors returned to the home at the end of March to carry out a follow-up inspection, some issues had been addressed but they still had concerns about short-staffing and over-dependence on agency nurses.
The HSE informed Hiqa on May 5th last that it planned to close the home, something that has caused concern locally. A protest march through Athlone last weekend attracted about 1,000 people.
Age Action called on the HSE to explain why it plans to close the home. “Certainly there are serious issues raised by Hiqa about the running of the nursing home, but the required actions to address these issues had either been addressed or were in the process of being addressed by the HSE,” its spokesman Eamon Timmins said. “The decision to close a home is hugely traumatic for the residents, some of whom have lived there for more than 10 years, and the very least they are entitled to is a reason why this decision had been taken,” he added.
Local Fine Gael Senator Nicky McFadden said the problems at the home were due to HSE underfunding, which withheld staff and resources, “allowing it to fall to rack and ruin”. She urged the HSE to address the shortcomings in the report and to keep the home open.
Sinn Féin’s health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin accused the HSE of using the report to close the home “as part of its public healthcare cutbacks” as inspectors did not recommend it.
The HSE said the Hiqa report “confirms the rationale for the decision to close the facility”. It said the decision was taken to protect the health and welfare of residents.