Cork care home residents left calling out to use bathroom due to staff shortages

Ongoing staffing shortages in Glendonagh Residential Home, near Dungourney in East Cork, left residents experiencing long delays after calling out for assistance at night.

A Health and Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) report, published following an unannounced inspection, complimented the food and activities available to residents, but identified several instances of non-compliance with regulations.

Residents told inspectors that staff were kind and caring, but one said that staff were “rushed off their feet”, and another three said their care often felt rushed.

Staff also said they were frequently short- staffed, impeding their provision of care, with inspectors noting that staffing “has been a long-term issue in this centre”.

Cautionary meeting

Following the previous inspection, a cautionary meeting was held with the provider, where “serious concerns” were raised, including around staffing levels at night and about fire precautions. The inspectors found that fire- safety action had been taken by the provider, but repeated non-compliance was found in other areas.

In total, the centre was marked compliant in four areas, and non-compliant in eight.

Glendonagh was required to have seven nurses, but at the time of inspection there were only six, and there were two care staff vacancies. This meant staffing levels had further deteriorated since the previous inspection, after which the provider had agreed to put on a second nurse at night, which had not happened.

The nurse was frequently interrupted while administering night-time medications, which was a risk to safe administration and could potentially lead to errors.

They were also responsible for supervising the other staff, so were frequently called away by them, or by residents needing assistance.

Three care staff were on duty, but they were assigned many cleaning tasks, which took from the time they were available to provide care.

The inspectors saw residents in their rooms who were calling out to go to the bathroom having to wait long periods of time, without staff available to help them.

Inspectors noted that many of the residents did not have a call bell within easy reach.

Distressed

One resident could be heard calling out and was distressed, and when an inspector entered the room the resident’s call bell was not within reach.

The report said: “A number of allegations and incidents of abuse that impacted the safety and welfare of residents were not being appropriately investigated and managed.”

Legally-mandated notifications were not submitted to the chief inspector as required.

Inspectors observed that rooms were generally clean, but noted “very strong malodours from a number of bedrooms”. A press containing chemicals was also found to be unlocked in the dementia unit, posing a risk to patients.

Additionally, not all required staff training had been completed, and many care plans were out of date, with one containing information about the wrong resident. No residents’ meetings — meant to be held every two months — had taken place between March and December.

Recruited

The provider told Hiqa that it has successfully recruited two new staff members, and the nursing roster has been amended to allow for a supplementary twilight nurse, in place since January 2025.

The provider added that it continues to focus on recruitment and, if needed, it will consider using agency staff.

Additionally, it said it is regularly auditing access to call bells, has implemented an investigation tool for looking into reports of incidents or abuse, and will ensure all are reported going forward.