Nursing home closed down after failing four inspections by Hiqa

A NURSING home which failed to meet inspection standards on four different occasions has been closed

The Woodside House Nursing Home in Fethard, Co Tipperary, which had 17 elderly residents, shut last Friday after a series of Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) reports found it had not addressed failures in its care. Hiqa finally cancelled Woodside’s registration after finding only five actions out of 27 that it had recommended had been carried out by the nursing home owners.

While there was an apparent willingness on behalf of the care provider to meet inspection standards, “no clear rationale was provided to account for the lack of progress evidenced”, the Hiqa report concluded.

The two inspectors, Mary Moore and Catherine O’Keeffe, found the issues that had not been addressed from the previous inspection in November were “core actions pivotal to the standard and quality of care and services directly provided to residents”.

The authority’s final inspection came in April after two separate complaints received in March which outlined concerns about a number of issues at the home including medication management and the food and drink that residents were taking. Prior to that, Woodside had been inspected three times with only “marginal but unsatisfactory improvement”, a previous Hiqa report had noted.

Previous reports found that residents were happy there and the staff were well-regarded, though care was basic.

In their April inspection, the authority acted on complaints that residents were being admitted from discharging hospitals or facilities without being subjected to a comprehensive review of their health to see if they were suitable to live there.

The inspection found there was poor medication management practices with evidence that one member of the nursing staff had forgotten to administer a dose.

They also found an inadequate treatment regime for three individuals who had pressure sores.

There was no system in place to deal with the physical safety of residents especially in relation to potential accidents. The inspector found, however, that action had been taken in relation to fire drills.

Improvements were also made in providing activities for the residents, but they were still spending prolonged periods with little to “occupy them, stimulate them or engage them in a way that was meaningful and psychosocially beneficial to them”.

Though improvements had been made to the decor of the centre the atmosphere in some areas was still “malodorous, oppressive and offensive”.

The report found that bedroom, bathroom and toilet doors could not be locked to “promote and protect the privacy and dignity of the occupants”.

All the residents of the nursing home have been voluntarily relocated to other homes.

Unlike previous Hiqa inspections, the findings of the report were not contested in court.