Review of failing care home must be thorough: Swann

A REVIEW into Clifton Nursing Home will focus on the deterioration in care, the Health Minister has said.

The Belfast Health Trust has initiated a Serious Adverse Incident (SAI) review into the facility. It will be independently chaired and will consider the care of residents and decisions made by management.

Mr Swann said he expected the review process “to be a thorough piece of work, completed in a timely manner”. An SAI takes place when an event leads to serious unintended or unexpected harm, loss or damage to patients.

The move, revealed by Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show, comes after nine residents at the north Belfast unit (right), which is operated by Runwood Homes, died from Covid-19.

Efforts are under way to appoint a new company to run the home, which has approximately 100 beds and 70 residents.

According to a report from the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), Runwood Homes has been warned twice of failing to meet standards in infection control after inspections as far back as January 2019.

Runwood Homes said: “Representatives from Clifton Nursing Home have confirmed with Belfast Trust that this would be a welcomed review and will cooperate fully to see best practice identified.”

Speaking to the Nolan Show, interim chief executive of the

RQIA Dermot Parsons said Runwood Homes had installed a new manager at the unit at the start of 2019.

“We had a degree

of confidence from the provider that bringing in the new manager would have an impact on performance in the home and see that the necessary changes were made,” he said. “By the time we get to early 2020, that does not seem adequate, and we’re seeking assurance from Runwood that the necessary changes will be made.

“The responsibility to make improvements in the home sits with the provider and it’s when we’re seeing those assurances significantly not delivered, it becomes clear to us that the management arrangement in and around the home is not delivering the necessary improvement.

“That’s why we lost confidence in the provider to be able to deliver the service and we moved to take enforcement in the last month.”

The Belfast Trust said it is working closely with Clifton Nursing Home along with other agencies to ensure residents’ needs are appropriately met.

The trust does not have a role in making decisions on when regulatory inspections are undertaken.

“Our responsibility is primarily to our residents who we place in care homes and we have arrangements in place to actively review the standard of care provided,” it said.

The trust said it had met with Runwood Homes to discuss concerns but did not receive the assurances that these issues were being addressed in a timely or thorough way.

The Department of Health told the BBC that Mr Swann “expects the fullest possible transparency in relation to the findings of this review”.