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THE Health and Information Quality Authority (HIQA) has issued a damning report on conditions at the HSE administered Macroom Community Hospital, finding non-compliance with regulations across a number of key areas.
The report details findings by a HIQA inspector following an unannounced inspection of the 38-bed facility last April, the first since a similar inspection in 2017 found that many of the failings highlighted during nine previous inspections since 2010 had not been adequately addressed.
Previous HIQA reports had highlighted how the cramped and outdated conditions at the hospital, which dates back to the 1930’s, had affected the privacy and dignity of patients.
This was again addressed in the latest report, with many residents saying they did not have enough privacy and needed more storage space for personal items, with one resident likening the wardrobes, when available, to those in a “doll’s house”.
Other issues raised by residents included difficulties in getting to the toilet due to the walking distance involved, the lack of shower facilities (only two for 38 residents), cramped conditions in the dining/sitting room and being in multi-occupancy rooms alongside other patients with diverse needs who might “call out or shout for extended periods of time.”
The report said these had been discussed with the person in charge and staff who, while aware of the issues, were restricted in actions they could take due to the “limitations of the premises layout and lack of sufficient space.”
“The findings of this inspection were that the registered provider, the Health Services Executive (HSE) had failed to ensure that an effective and safe service was provided for residents living in the Macroom Community Hospital,” read the report.
“The registered provider had not ensured that the service met the needs of residents, particularly in terms of the arrangements for privacy and dignity, residents rights, fire-safety, personal accommodation and storage provision,” it added.
The report found that the HSE “had not adequately addressed many previously identified regulatory non-compliances” or had taken a proactive approach to ensuring that proposed improvements, specified in its 2017 action plan submitted to HIQA’s chief inspector, “had been satisfactorily progressed.”
It said that during the 2017 inspection the person in charge had informed the inspector that she had been advised renovation works were to commence following the inspection and the HSE had given an undertaking that the required works would begin in 2018 and be completed this year.
The report said that the project had not commenced then “much to the disappointment of management staff ”.
“On this occasion the registered provider representative stated there had been no commencement date for the proposed building works. Moreover, planning permission had not yet been sought,” it read.
“This meant that the action plan commitment made in 2017 would not be fulfilled and the provider was in breach of a condition of the current registration.”
The report found that overall the inspection also demonstrated “deficits in the overall governance and management” at the hospital as evidenced by what it found were a lack of comprehensive oversight by senior management; long-term residents continuing to be accommodated in situations that adversely affected their daily quality of life, privacy and dignity and a failure to identify fire risks.