Social workers visited scandal-hit care home 263 times
SOCIAL workers visited a Londonderry care home hundreds of times while it struggled to meet standards, it can be revealed.
Owen Mor Care Centre was closed to admissions last May after critical inspections by the health watchdog.
Western Trust social workers visited the scandal-hit home 263 times in the four months prior to this, it has emerged.
According to figures released by the trust, care managers visited 141 times between January and April last year. Learning disability care managers carried out 122 visits over the same period.
In contrast, social workers visited Ashbrooke Care Home 189 times in the 10 months before it was closed by inspectors in August 2017 over serious concerns for the safety of residents.
Owen Mor is an 81-bed home that provides care to people with dementia, learning disability and mental disorders.
The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) issued four failure to comply notices to the home on May 15 last year.
The watchdog took the step after identifying failings in the management of falls, bed rails, tube feeding, weight and nutrition of residents, residents not receiving medication as prescribed, and the management of ulcers and wound care during a number of inspections in May last year and November 2018.
When the home failed to address concerns to an acceptable standard by August last year, the RQIA took urgent action to impose five conditions of registration.
This included halting new admissions to the home until the RQIA deemed that it was safe and the appointment of a suitably qualified and experienced manager.
An inspection on November 19 last year resulted in the conditions of registration bei ng removed after the RQIA deemed that the home had sufficiently addressed all of its concerns.
In November, the Western Trust apologised to families of residents at the home who have had “bad experiences” there.
It came after the Commissioner of Older People in Northern Ireland, Eddie Lynch, said he could give no assurances that residents at the home were safe.
Eddie Lynch made the comments just days before it emerged that the latest inspection of the home had found that it was meeting safety standards.