Waterford psychiatric unit criticised in new report

A woman resident in the psychiatric unit of University Hospital Waterford was accommodated for six days in an open area with no privacy, according to an inspection report.

Two other residents were accommodated in a corridor of the unit even though a vacant room was available nearby, a report by the Mental Health Commission found.

The report found a critical level of non-compliance in the 44-bed unit in six areas and a high level of non-compliance in seven areas of operation.

Commission inspectors noted a serious incident on the first day of their unannounced inspection, with two woman residents accommodated in an open area outside the nursing counter. Neither resident had a screen for privacy, and one had been there for six days, according to the report.

Following discussion between the inspection team and senior nursing staff, the bedroom areas were reconfigured and both women were moved to rooms.

The report said the centre was not compliant because it failed to protect the privacy of residents accommodated on the corridor and because three beds did not have surround curtains.

Inspectors found one incident recorded in the centre was rated as “catastrophic” but could not be identified by managers.

In the acute area of the ward, there was “very little” in terms of recreational activities, the report said. There were televisions in the four-bed rooms but not in the single rooms, no communal spaces and only a small garden.

Seclusion facilities

The centre was also faulted for not providing residents with an appropriate range of therapies and because the services available did not foster “optimal levels of physical and psychosocial functioning”.

Seclusion facilities posed a risk to patient safety and were not fully recorded and the policy on seclusion did not refer to training of staff, the report also said.

The centre was in breach of regulations for continuing to administer medication to a patient even though the treating psychiatrist had certified the patient had the capacity to consent.

Following a previous inspection in 2015, the unit was told to submit plans for improving services in eight areas which were found to be non-compliant. The latest inspection in August found that three of these plans had not been implemented, two were partially implemented and three had been completed but were still non-compliant.

The unit has also been issued with a notice to address issues of consent immediately.