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The Health Service Executive took control of a private nursing home after he found older residents testing positive for Covid-19 mixing with other vulnerable residents.
The North Kerry nursing home was described as a “center in chaos” where there was a “serious risk to life” at a hearing in Listowel District Court today.
At 5pm today, the HSE took control of the Oakland, Derry, Listowel nursing home and is making alternative arrangements for its elderly residents, based on a court order on short notice.
A request from the Chief Inspector of Social Services and HIQA succeeded in de-registering Oaklands’ company, Bolden (Nursing) Ltd, as a registered provider of a nursing home.
The HSE was one of the notified parties in the proceeding, HIQA attorney Brian Gageby informed the court.
An HSE team that entered the nursing home on November 4 on the foot of residents who tested positive “found a center in the chaos,” said Deputy Chief Inspector of Social Services and HIQA Susan Cliff.
There was already “a high level of concern” and this year seven inspections had been carried out.
Two visits is the normal “maximum” inspection rate per year for nursing homes, Ms. Cliff told Judge David Waters.
There were concerns that the management structure in the nursing home was insufficient and that the culture needed to become “more person-centered,” Ms. Cliff said.
When inspectors visited on September 30, they again found a bad culture of care, and there were “very specific problems,” he said.
Those concerns increased due to Covid-19.
There were no empty rooms for patients who could test positive for Covid-19, he said.
“All staff were in contact with all patients,” he added.
On November 4, after information that several residents tested positive, the HSE “immediately” sent a team.
“They found a center in the chaos,” Cliff said.
Residents “roamed unsupervised” and those who tested positive mixed with non-positive residents.
Some staff members tested positive and were asymptomatic, and residents were not notified.
Residents with “classic” Covid-19 symptoms (cough and temperature) were not being monitored.
“The alarm bells should have gone off at this facility and it didn’t happen,” Cliff said.
There were no “restrictions or controls on the entry or exit of people” to the center.
When the inspectors entered the center on November 4, there were no controls.
“It was a center in chaos that day,” Waters responded to Judge.
Ms. Cliff also described her concerns about administering medications.
The IT system was down and there was nothing to back it up.
End-of-life drug prescriptions were out of date.
The result of this would be that patients may not receive the necessary medication to make them feel comfortable in their final days, Ms. Cliff explained.
The defendant, Bolden Ltd, was not represented in court. However, there was consent to the request, the court also heard.
Judge Waters said he had heard enough and said that, given the poor clinical governance and poor infection control measures, he was satisfied that there was a “serious risk to the lives and well-being of the people at the center.”
It granted the orders under articles 59 and 64 of the Health Law of 2007.
Meanwhile, the number of nursing homes receiving intensive support to address Covid-19 outbreaks has more than doubled in the last week.
Currently, there are 144 households receiving HSE assistance, 10 in the red status category, up from four this time last week.
HSE Chief Operating Officer Anne O’Connor said there are currently 105 outbreaks in nursing homes across the country.
“Most of them are being managed very well, so an outbreak doesn’t mean we are there ‘with our boots on the ground.’ An outbreak is just an outbreak.
“There is a much smaller number, 10, that worries me. We are providing very intensive supports.”
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