Nursing home vows to address report’s issues

A Camolin nursing home has drawn up an improvement plan aimed at addressing some of the ‘non-compliance issues’ which were highlighted in a recent Health Information and Quality Authority of Ireland (HIQA) report.

Following an unannounced two-day inspection of Valentia Nursing Home in Camolin village in January, the centre was found to be non compliant in areas of risk management, fire precaution, premises and incident notification.

The nursing home, which has a capacity to provide residential, respite and convalescent care to 47 older people, was one of ten centres across the country found to have non-compliance issues in some areas under national standards out of the total 31 centres inspected.

Although the centre was found to be doing a satisfactory job in meeting the medical and nutritional health and social care needs of its residents, it fell down in the areas of the record keeping of complaints from residents and staff awareness of fire procedures.

A spokesperson for Valentia Nursing Home said that she would encourage the public to have a look at the full report which is available online adding that Valentia House is family-run and always had a good name in providing the ‘ home away from home’ experience. She said that ‘residents get absolutely the best care possible here’ and that reports like these are normal and that the nursing home have nothing to hide.

The report found that the residents said they were treated with ‘respect and dignity at all times’ and described the staff as ‘very kind, caring and responsive to their needs’. Residents confirmed that they would have no hesitation in speaking to staff if they had a concern. Residents said staff kept them informed and up to date about any changes to their health and social care needs. Some residents said that the centre was like a home from home, staff were friendly and it was a very comfortable and welcoming environment to live in.’

The report said those living in the nursing home felt comfortable with the staff, and that staff were knowledgeable about the residents’ medical health history as well as their personal likes and dislikes. This came from staff being employed in the centre for long periods of time, as high turnovers of staff did not appear to be an issue. The inspector was informed that the centre had been trying to recruit qualified nursing staff for a number of months and only recently were successful in this.

Regarding the needs of particularly challenging patients, the report said that improvements were required in staff training in dementia care or the management of challenging behaviours. The report suggested improvement in the deep cleaning practises of some parts of the centre, as cobwebs and dust were found on some windows and high surfaces. Improvement was required in relation to contracts between the residents and Valentia House. For example, the contracts of care reviewed did not contain details of the terms relating to the bedroom provided to the resident and the number of other occupants (if any) of that bedroom.

The report found that not all staff had attended fire evacuation practice drills and some bedroom doors, which were in fact fire safety doors, had been wedged open. In the event of a fire this would prevent such doors from keeping smoke or fire contained in these rooms during evacuation. Management have agreed that all staff will now attend regular fire evacuation practice drills and bedroom doors will no longer have wedges holding them open.

Some parts of the centre required repair or redecoration for example, the wood panelling in the ceiling at the entrance to the centre and management have confirmed that this will be repaired. Heating throughout the centre is also to be reviewed.

Valentia House will now notify all incidents to the office of the chief inspector within three working days, and an improvement plan for 2019 has been drawn up. A new boiler has been installed, and re-plumbing and replacement of pipes will commence in the summer. Two electric heaters will be installed in the conservatory and plans have been submitted for an extension to the existing building and a risk assessment has been completed.