Privacy, fire safety, staffing all issues at Cork centre for disabled

Privacy, fire safety, and staffing were identified as issues in a HIQA inspection of the No 2 Cordyline centre for people with disabilities in Cork.

The centre has a capacity of 21 residents and there were three vacancies at the time of inspection, and though feedback from the centre was mostly positive, some areas were highlighted as being of concern.

The centre, which is managed by the Brothers of Charity, was not compliant in eight areas, was substantially compliant in five, and was compliant in five.

Surveys had been circulated to the residents in advance of the inspection, and while there was lots of positive feedback during the inspection, one resident stated, “I would like a bigger bedroom.”

Another survey referenced that a different resident would prefer to live with people of their own age and this resident also mentioned the lack of staff availability and that activities had been cancelled because of this lack.

A third resident’s survey referenced them wanting to go out of the centre more often with staff and there being lots of new staff that the resident did not know.

There were issues around privacy, with some residents receiving checks in their bedrooms at night, but the rationale for such checks was not always documented.

“For one resident, it was indicated that they were to receive such checks due to possible seizures,” the inspection report said.

“However, the same resident had a bed sensor already in place related to this, so it was unclear why the night checks were needed with this.”

The inspector also noted that a delivery person had entered one bungalow without knocking or using the doorbell.

As had been also noted on a previous inspection, in February 2023, communal space was limited in some bungalows.

Given the number of residents, there was no space available for them to receive visitors in private, other than in their bedrooms, and this was noted as an issue.

Residents did have access to a nearby building, and this was on the same campus, that could be used to receive visitors in private, if they wished, but “the suitability of this arrangement was raised by a family member, who spoke during the inspection and who highlighted that it would not always be appropriate to bring their relative to this building, depending on the weather”.

This same family member told inspectors of queries to management that went unanswered, and the family member also “raised concerns around the living environment for the relative in their current home, along with the availability and levels of staff provided”.

Bedrooms were nicely furnished and personalised, and some had fitted wardrobes. While most residents did not pay for these, one resident’s funds were used to pay for their wardrobe.

Staffing was a major issue, with the inspector acknowledging “a general staffing crisis affecting the health and social care in Ireland” and noting that the provider had been making ongoing recruitment efforts. Two bungalows did not have team leaders and had not had them for some time, while there had been occasions when staff levels were lower than were required and, as a consequence, sometimes nursing shifts would be filled by care assistants.

Activities for residents were often not able to happen on a particular day, because of a lack of staff, and staff members indicated that it was hard to help residents fulfill goals identified in their personal plans as a result.

As part of the personal-planning, residents were supported to participate in a personal-outcomes measures (POMs) process to identify goals for them to achieve, and the inespector found that one resident had been living in the centre since May 2022, but had only recently completed this process.

STAFFING

As such, at the time of this inspection, staffing in this centre was not in keeping with the needs of the residents, nor the centre’s statement of purpose, and there were issus with training, with 37% of staff not having received supervision in line with the provider’s policies.

There were also fire-safety concerns, with evacuation times based on the most recent drills being much slower than was needed, and two residents’ personal plans stated that that their current residential setting was not suited to their particular needs.

The centre noted that since the inspection, a residential-services manager had begun work to support the area manager in the designated centre, and a fourth team leader for one of the bungalows had been hired, with the centre aiming to have a final team leader in place by the end of September.

That same date was given as a timeline by which all mandatory staff training would be complete, and the centre also noted that it had prepared a new private visitation area and that works have been completed to make all residents’ homes suitable.

Additionally, new fire drills had been completed and showed a satisfactory evacuation time and there were now signs on all of the front doors telling visitors to ring the doorbell and wait until a resident or staff came to answer.