Probe into outbreak at care home after almost half of residents die

A HSE investigation is under way into a Covid-19 outbreak that claimed the lives of almost half the residents in a Donegal nursing home.

Eighteen residents were evacuated from The Rock Nursing home in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, and transferred into St Joseph’s Community hospital in Stranorlar after a resident died from suspected Covid-19 and staff members fell ill. The 22-bed facility, which is currently closed, is owned and run by the HSE.

Nine of the residents who were transferred later died – two in Sligo University Hospital and seven following transfer to the Finn View Ward in St Joseph’s Community Hospital, Stranorlar. A 10th resident died in the Rock nursing home, prior to the evacuation.

In a statement, a spokesperson for HSE CHO 1, which includes the Donegal region, said all residents were isolated in different areas of Finn View ward upon transfer, “as per advice from Infection Prevention and Control”.

In relation to whether residents were tested prior to transfer, the HSE said: “A full review is under way in CHO 1 re Covid-19 cases among residents from the Rock Nursing Unit and will be available to national HSE once completed.” Speaking to the Irish independent, Mary Egan, the daughter of one of the seven who died in St Joseph’s Community Hospital after transfer, said she would like full transparency in relation to how her mother contracted Covid-19.

Mary’s mother, Anna Laughlin, passed away on April 21.

“There are many parts of all this I am in the dark about,” she said. “I don’t know when or if mammy was tested and when or where she got the virus. I have to say that the care she got in The Rock from the staff who cared for her was first-class.”