Nursing home fails to win over inspectors

A DUBLIN nursing home has received its eighth negative inspection report in a row from the health watchdog.

Leopardstown Park Hospital in Foxrock was found to have unclean and unhygienic bathrooms while residents were exposed to noise and foul smells in wards of up to 15 people.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) conducted its latest inspection of the public nursing home in September, having raised concerns on seven previous visits.

Four large wards sleeping up to 14 people left residents with little personal space, inspectors found.

Although wards had been decluttered and improvements made to the layout, some residents “remained dissatisfied about the lack of personal space, noise and foul smells that resulted in sharing a room with large numbers of people”.

Bed spaces, toilet and shower facilities were found to be unclean and unhygienic while the physical layout of the building had “significant deficits”, inspectors said.

The Health Service Executive, which operates the home, has introduced a number of improvements and the ‘person-centred’ interactions between staff and residents was praised by inspectors.

However, Hiqa still found an “unacceptable level” of non-compliance at the hospital on its latest visit.

Hiqa said it was working with the provider to bring the centre into compliance with the regulations. The number of residents has been reduced, and a further inspection will be carried out in the New Year.