Surprise inspections of nursing homes to begin soon

Unannounced inspections of private nursing homes will take place from the end of this month following a review of how the Health Service Executive (HSE) monitors care standards in institutions for older people.

The move is part of a new standardised inspection process for private nursing homes which was undertaken following controversy over standards of nursing care at Leas Cross nursing home earlier this year.

The HSE is also planning to make inspection reports for nursing homes available to the public, although it has yet to finalise details of how this will be done.

Inspections teams have been told that all breaches, including minor ones, should be put in writing from now on. This is in response to the practice of some inspection teams of verbally informing nursing homes of breaches.

The HSE also wants to be able to sanction nursing homes for serious breaches of care standards, instead of having to go through a lengthy legal process.

This is expected to be addressed in new legislation, likely to be published shortly, which will provide a new legal framework for the inspections process.

Few nursing homes have been de-registered due largely to a lengthy and often unsuccessful legal process which may take months or even years to exhaust.

There has also been concern among inspection staff that regulations which provide for standards of care are too vague and have contributed to a lack of successful prosecutions.

In the meantime, the HSE says it will take "immediate appropriate action" against poor practice with the limitation of existing legislation.

In a statement to The Irish Times, a HSE spokesman confirmed that the new measures will be implemented shortly.

"The HSE has now agreed a national standardised inspection process which will be implemented by all inspection teams throughout the country by the end of October 2005. This includes unannounced inspections. The process will be reviewed early in 2006.

"The HSE is aware of the different practices around the country in the past and are committed to implementing a co-ordinated standardised approach. This will take time and additional resources. The assignment of the resources is a priority for the HSE in 2006.

"The HSE is currently working with the nursing home sector to improve standards, and also with the Department of Health and Children regarding the proposed new legislation," the statement said.

This legislation was due to be published before Christmas, but Department of Health sources say it may now be delayed into early next year.

The review is also expected to result in more frequent inspections of nursing homes.