A HIQA report has found fault with staff’s response to two intruder incidents at Buncrana Community Hospital this year.
The nursing care centre saw two incidents of people entering parts of the building in both April and June this year.
The recording and documenting of the incidents led to the centre having one of two non-compliances following an unannounced HIQA inspection.
The report from the inspection was published today, showing non-compliance in the governance and management of the centre.
A review of the incident records showed two incidents where an intruder accessed the centre. The first took place in April 2023, when a person accessed the centre’s reception during evening hours.
There was another similar incident in June 2023, and this time, an intruder had accessed the residents’ accommodation area.
The person in charge told the HIQA inspector that control measures had been identified and implemented following the second incident, which included locking the reception door after evening hours. However, this control measure had not been documented in the provider’s risk register, and the incident had not been recorded as discussed in the centre’s management and staff meetings.
As a result, the inspector was not assured that all staff learned from the incident.
The inspector also noted maintenance issues in the centre, including a visibly damaged ceiling, mould on the internal ceiling, damaged floor linings and a leaking roof. Buckets were in place for rainwater from the roof.
As a result, the report said that residents had to live in a poorly maintained environment and posed an injury risk to residents and staff.
Overall there were two non-compliances, three regulations with which the centre was substantially compliant and compliance with the remaining seven regulations.
As a result of the inspection, the person in charge, together with the Clinical Nurse Managers have put a system in place to ensure that learning from all incidents will be a permanent agenda item at all staff meetings.
They also escalated reports of leaking and damage to HSE Maintenance and HSE Estates for repairs or replacements. A risk assessment was carried out into the issues identified with the physical environment and this has been added to the centre’s risk register.
Overall, the HIQA report found that the Buncrana Community Hospital had well-established management and staff teams in place for the management and oversight of the centre.
On the date of inspection in August there were 23 residents accommodated in the centre.
The inspector spoke with a number of residents in the centre, and the overall feedback was that this is a good centre, with a majority of the residents expressing high levels of satisfaction with the care and service they received. Some residents’ comments were that ”I enjoyed all the activities in the centre and that there is always some things to do here”, ”the food is great here”, ”The staff are very supportive”, ”I love the live music sessions”.
However, the inspector said that the provider’s governance and management, including the oversight required for maintaining the centre’s physical environment, required significant improvement to ensure that the service provided to the residents was safe. Furthermore, the provider’s complaints procedure had not been revised to ensure that it met the requirements of the regulation.
