Residents’ cash used to run nursing homes, Hiqa inspection report finds

Residents in a number of nursing homes had their personal money mismanaged by staff, and in a number of instances money was not immediately returned to the resident’s estate after death, according to the latest reports form the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa).

The latest batch of 50 inspection reports published by Hiqa on Thursday showed money belonging to some nursing home residents was paid into the nursing home’s current account, while in other cases the residents were not able to access their cash at weekends.

Hiqa found levels of noncompliance with regulations in 19 of the 50 centres including breaches of rules on governance and management; premises; residents’ rights; fire precautions; infection control; records; individual assessment and care plans and protection.

Hiqa said just 17 of the 50 centres inspected earlier this year were either fully compliant or substantially compliant with regulations and in general, were found to be meeting residents’ needs.

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However in relation to six reports carried out in premises run by Aperee Living, which provides care in counties Cork, Kerry, Waterford and Kilkenny, Hiqa raised concerns about the management of residents’ finances.

At Aperee Living in Tralee, Co Kerry, inspectors found the home did not have a separate resident client account and the residents’ money was paid directly into Aperee Living Tralee’s current account.

The inspection in April 2023 found three of the residents affected had died, but their money had not been returned to their relatives or their estates.

There was no evidence that residents were told their money was kept in an account which was also used for the day-to day costs of running Aperee Living, Tralee, Hiqa said.

The report also expressed concern about the management of the resident’s money and requests for transfers to third parties who were not employees of Aperee Living, Tralee.

[ Kildare nursing home where sex assault took place in 2020 criticised in new report ]

Aperee Tralee told the authority that that all money owed to estates of deceased residents had been returned.

It said the residents’ estates were safeguarded by refunding any money to the estate in a timely fashion.

At Aperee Living Belgooly, near Kinsale in Co Cork, inspectors expressed concern about the condition of the building and the care provider’s ability to sustain a safe, quality service. The inspector’s report noted there had been ongoing regulatory engagement with the provider and cautionary and warning meetings in relation to governance and management and fire safety.

Inspectors were significantly concerned that residents were not protected in the Belgooly centre, through poor management practices of their finances. The registered provider was a pension agent for four residents and although residents’ monies were paid into a residents’ client account, this money was not protected for residents’ use only, Hiqa said. Inspectors found that the provider did not have robust financial systems in place to ensure that residents’ finances were protected, and were not used for any purpose other than for, or by, the individual residents. In addition, the provider had not ensured that in the event of a resident passing away, the money held by the company, was passed to the estate of the resident.

At Aperee Living Ballygunner, on the outskirts of Waterford City, inspectors were concerned about the governance and management of the centre especially in areas of healthcare and residents’ finances. Inspectors said they continued to be “very concerned about the registered provider’s ability to safely sustain the business of the centre.” This concern was “heighten due to poor safeguarding practices by the provider in relation to residents own money held by the registered provider”, Hiqa said.

In relation to Aperee Living, Conna, Mallow, Co Cork a review of the banking records showed residents’ money was used on a number of occasions to pay the ongoing costs of running the centre. “Whilst this money was returned to the account, this was not appropriate or correct use of residents’ monies”, Hiqa said.

At Aperee Living in Callan, Co Kilkenny inspectors also found banking records showed residents cash was used on a number of occasions to pay the ongoing costs of running the centre. Inspectors raised “significant concerns” about the availability of sufficient resources to ensure the effective delivery of care, in line with the statement of purpose.

At Aperee Living in Bantry, Co Cork inspectors said there was no separation between monies for the operation of the designated centre and residents personal money held by the provider. The provider had not identified safeguarding concerns relating to the use of the residents monies in the provider account”, Hiqa said.

Reports and compliance plans can be found on www.hiqa.ie.