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The Health Information and Quality Authority has said that a community hospital owned and operated by the Health Services Executive failed to adhere to the guidelines of the Center for Health Protection Surveillance during Covid-19 in April.
An inspection report from HIQA said that residents of the Clonakilty Community Hospital in Cork suspected of being infected with the Covid-19 virus or who tested positive for the virus, or were known contacts of residents who tested positive for the virus, were not isolated or placed quarantined. .
The center had a significant Covid-19 outbreak in April and May and a large number of residents and staff tested positive for the virus.
An unannounced risk-based inspection of HIQA in June found that there were improvements in local governance and management arrangements.
The center’s registration was previously renewed in April 2016, and since then, HIQA said there have been six inspections of the center.
HIQA said all inspections found that Clonakilty Community Hospital had significant levels of non-compliance in relation to governance and management in general.
He said the proposed conditions required a reduction in the number of residents housed in some identified multi-occupancy rooms and the creation of additional common space in the form of a new living room.
HIQA said that during the Covid-19 outbreak, a significant number of staff were affected by the virus and there was an aligned increase in the care that residents required.
As a result of staff absenteeism, he said there were not enough staff or skill mix to safely serve residents.
In response, the HIQA report said that the HSE had to reassign staff from other areas, such as daycare services, to maintain staffing levels for serving residents.
HIQA said that through the inspector’s frequent communications with facility management, it was apparent that the HSE was not meeting or implementing HPSC’s national guidelines regarding isolation and quarantine of residents.
He said these identified risks to residents and staff were raised to the HSE nationwide in April.
The HSE responded by explaining that, as a consequence of physical facility limitations, residents who tested positive for the virus remained in dormitories shared with residents who may have previously tested negative for the virus or were not showing symptoms of the virus.
The report said there are only a small number of individual rooms and they weren’t always available when it was necessary to isolate residents.
In the later stages of the outbreak, the transitional care unit, which is used for short-stay residents, was used to isolate residents.
He noted that this unit had been vacated because short-stay residents were not admitted during the outbreak.
HIQA said improvements and focus are now required to ensure that established governance and management arrangements always provide safe quality service to residents and that the nursing home is compliant with regulations.
The Clonakilty Community Hospital consists of two buildings dating from the 19th century.
Resident housing is spread over five units at the center and is registered to provide long-term, respite, transitional care, palliative and dementia care for 122 residents.
In the days of the inspection, the number of residents living in the center had dropped from 122 to 77.
The reduction in numbers was the result of the decision not to admit any new residents during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The report is one of 34 released today by HIQA on nursing homes.
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