An HIQA inspection has found a designated care centre for older people in Ennis not compliant with resident’s rights and infection control regulations.
The Health Information and Quality Authority carried out an unanounced inspection of Cahercalla Community Hospital on March 20th.
On the day of the inspection, 103 residents were in attendance at the hospital.
The inspection lasted nine hours, taking place from 10 in the morning until 7 at night, and found the facility to be non-compliant in six of 11 regulations assessed.
The first of those was training and staff development, the inspection found that six staff had not completed yearly mandatory fire safety training.
The majority of staff had also not completed training in the management of how residents who are living with dementia or other conditions may communicate or express their physical discomfort or social environment.
According to HIQA, multiple rooms which were signed off as clean on the morning of the inspection were visibly unclean and cobwebs had formed on the window sills of the kitchenettes in use where food was prepared.
Items of resident continence equipment which are used to help symptoms of poor bladder and bowel control were found to be repeatedly unclean, when they were marked as ready for use.
Cahercalla’s complaints procedure was also found to be non-compliant with HIQA’s standards as inspectors noted that a residents complaint over access to activities had not been documented, investigated or resolved.
HIQA also noted that for the fourth inspection in a row, residents in one shared room could not access their wardrobe space, without entering their neighbouring residents private space.
The inspection team also stated the provider had failed to take adequate fire precautions, noting there were large spaces between the door and the floor under a number of fire doors, that posed a risk that fire and smoke would not be contained in an emergency event.
However, Cahercalla was judged to be ‘substantially compliant’ by HIQA in terms of fire safety.
HIQA says that overall, the residents living in the centre were content and expressed satisfaction with the service provided and expressed satisfaction with the direct provision of care.
Cahercalla Community Care Centre was also found to be compliant in staffing, Individual assessment and care plans, healthcare and protection.
The provider, Cahercalla Community Hospital has since submitted a compliance plan that will bring the facility in line with all HIQA regulations by July.
