Urgent action plan issued during inspection of Cork nursing home, according to Hiqa report 

AN urgent action plan was issued at a Cork nursing home during an ongoing Covid-19 outbreak following “significant concerns”, a Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) report has revealed.

An inspection was carried out at Teach Altra Nursing Home in Newmarket on 1 February 2021 and 10 February 2021.

At the time of inspection, there were 33 residents at the nursing home.

The unannounced inspection was carried out over two days and an outbreak of Covid-19 was declared in January 2021, with a total of 58 confirmed cases, 30 of these cases affecting residents and 28 staff.

A number of issues that had the potential to impact on effective outbreak management were identified during the course of the inspection.

On day one of the inspection, inspectors found that PPE was not being used or stored correctly throughout the centre and clinical waste was being inappropriately disposed of.

On day two of the inspection, staff were observed wearing full PPE before entering the rooms of residents where transmission-based precautions had been discontinued.

The report also stated that many of the infection prevention and control policies were due for review and did not reflect current national guidelines.

“Action was required to ensure sufficient oversight of infection prevention and control arrangements in the centre, and to identify potential risks and opportunities for improvement, in relation to the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infection,” it stated.

“Significant concerns” regarding clinical oversight, staffing, healthcare and infection prevention and control were also evident on day one of the inspections which resulted in the issuing of an urgent action plan to the registered provider.

However, improvements were acknowledged on day two of the inspection.

According to the report, inspectors observed that the Covid-19 outbreak was posing “a significant challenge to management and staff” due to the numbers of residents that tested positive for the virus and the number of staff who could not work because of confirmed or suspected Covid-19.

The nursing home was found to be not compliant in the area of governance and management stating that there were “inadequate” staffing levels on day one of the inspection.

According to the report, the nursing home was also deemed not compliant in a number of other areas including infection control, health care, notification of incidents and complaints procedure.

These areas were to be complied with by April 2021.