Hiqa raises concerns in relation to East Cork respite care centre

Issues with record keeping, medication prescribing, and staff meetings were identified by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) during an unannounced inspection of an east Cork centre for adults with disabilities.

The inspector was informed that at the time of this inspection, October of last year, 45 residents were regularly availing of respite breaks in the centre, the Cope Foundation’s East County Cork 2.

Overall, while residents spoken with during this inspection reported to the inspector that they were happy and enjoyed their short breaks, the inspector said that “further improvements were required”.

The centre was marked compliant in four areas, substantially compliant in five, and not compliant in a further five.

The Hiqa report noted: “There were gaps evident in a range of documentation reviewed.” The inspector was only able to review 25 contracts of care out of the 45 residents who were listed on the directory of residents.

Reviewed 

One record reviewed showed missing details, with sections of the form blank, and on the day of the inspection, neither the staff team or the inspector could locate any documentation pertaining to another resident.

The inspector had noted the resident’s name when reviewing an incident report “but there was no identification number on the incomplete form”, and when the inspector reviewed the directory, no documents for a resident with this name were located.

On the day after this inspection, the inspector was informed that the resident had a double barrelled surname and the relevant documentation was filed in another part of the directory.

However, the incident report did not refer to the resident using this name format, and there was no double barrelled surname evident for anyone listed as availing of services.

Furthermore, on review of medication documents, it was evident that prescribed controlled medications were administered outside of the provider’s processes, safety protocols and as outlined in the Misuse of Drugs Regulations.

Staff had not been informed that prescribed medications for one resident were controlled medications, and were “unaware of the statutory requirements which applied to the controlled medications that had been administered”.

Processes

Processes that should have been implemented were outlined during the inspection, but the inspector noted “these did not take place”.

Some of the incident forms that had been documented were also found to be incomplete.

In addition, the inspector was unable to review any staff supervision records on the day of the inspection, despite the provider’s own internal audits identifying that improvements were required relating to supervision of staff.

The inspector was informed that regular staff meetings had not taken place during 2024, and said: “No rationale for this could be provided to the inspector on the day of the inspection.”

One staff meeting had been held in August with one more scheduled for November 2024, but the provider had previously outlined that monthly staff meetings were to be held.

The provider assured following the inspection that all gaps in the directory of residents have been filled, and that it will be reviewed going forward.

Medication protocol has been discussed and reviewed with all team members in the centre, regular reviews of the controlled drug register are to be conducted, and a schedule of monthly staff meetings has been put in place as well as a system for staff supervision reviews.