Hiqa report raises numerous concerns about two Cork nursing homes 

A Hiqa report has revealed numerous concerns about Aperee Living nursing homes in Bantry and Conna, which are currently being run by a receiver company.

The Bantry centre was found compliant in eight areas, substantially compliant in three, and not compliant in four, while the Conna centre was compliant in 12, substantially compliant in three, and not compliant in five.

Inspectors were concerned about the financial stability of both services and the registered provider’s management of the centres’ finances, as the provider company for both was in receivership since July 31.

Receivership

The Office of the Chief Inspector was informed that as the provider company was in receivership and that the powers of the directors of the provider company were suspended at the time of inspection.

The receiver company had been appointed as the legal entity now responsible for the financial and operational management of the centres.

A number of high risk fire safety risks were identified in both centres, and had been pointed out in previous inspections of both.

Work was taking place to address the fire risks in the Bantry centre, with a restriction stating that no new residents be allowed until they were addressed, but the inspector noted “repeated delays in addressing known fire safety risks”.

As per the findings of the previous inspection, there were issues with a ramp which could “lead to delays or injury to staff and residents during evacuation”, as well as work required on fire sealing, upgrades of ducting, emergency lighting, a fire compartment enclosure, and the time taken to evacuate residents in drills.

The inspector added: “Work to the premises pertaining to fire safety had not been signed off by a competent professional with expertise in this area and inspectors found that there was a lack of appropriate oversight of this on the day of the inspection.”

In Conna, a restrictive condition was attached to the registration of the centre in May 2023 requiring the registered provider to have the fire safety works completed by October 31, 2023, to ensure the safety of the residents.

Concerns

While the majority of these works had been completed by the time of this inspection, “the prolonged nature of the registered provider’s response to such a serious issue, raises concern about the capability of the registered provider”, the inspector wrote.

“Furthermore, on this inspection, it was not evident to inspectors and the local management were not able to tell the inspectors what works were yet to be completed and when the works would be completed.”

There was ambiguity regarding senior management roles within the organisations, with senior positions not filled and staff working in the centre unaware of who was operating these roles.

Minutes of management meetings for both centres indicated that the last governance and management meeting held in the centre between the registered provider and the management team working in both centres was June 2024.

Money

This was despite the provider assuring the chief inspector that oversight arrangements were to improve, whereby a company director and the regional manager would attend the centre’s formal governance and management meeting every two weeks.

There was money belonging to three deceased residents kept in the centre’s resident account in the Conna centre.

This money had been held for an extended period of time and there was no evidence of further attempts to return the money to the estates of the residents or to the state solicitors office as required at the time of the inspection, though it was noted at the end of the report that this money had since been returned.

The receiver offered information on how these issues will be addressed, but the Hiqa report stated:

“The compliance plan response from the registered provider does not adequately assure the chief inspector that the action will result in compliance with the regulations.”