Concern over staffing ‘crisis’ in care home run by Ability West

The State’s health services watchdog has raised concerns over standards in a residential centre for people with intellectual disabilities as a result of a staffing “crisis” in the care home.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) criticised “persistent poor findings” in several facilities run by Galway-based provider Ability West. The regulator said it had “serious concerns” about staffing levels in the organisation’s Teach Michel centre, which cares for up to six residents with intellectual disabilities.

During an April 12th inspection some staff in the Co Galway facility reported working up to 70 hours the previous week, which Hiqa said was “not sustainable”. The residential centre was “not adequately resourced” to ensure the “effective delivery of care” to residents, it said.

The inspection report, published on Tuesday, said staffing shortages had been an ongoing challenge in the centre for several months. Agency staff were being brought in from four different companies to try to fill gaps in response to the staffing “crisis”. The report said these arrangements had been “unsatisfactory” due to the constant changing of staff caring for residents.

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The inspection report was one of 40 published by the healthcare regulator on Tuesday.

In an inspection of Macotar Lodge, another centre run by Ability West, Hiqa ordered it to take “urgent” action in response to findings that one resident had experienced eight falls in a four-week period. In another instance a physically restrictive practice that had been discontinued nearly a year beforehand was still being used to manage one resident.

The regulator noted that previous inspections earlier in the year had raised “significant concerns” about the oversight of care in the centre. The provider had failed to introduce required changes on foot of previous criticism, which Hiqa said had led to “poor outcomes for some residents and staff”.

In a third Ability West centre, Sylvan Services, the regulator said there was “no evidence” the alleged financial abuse of a resident had been fully investigated.

In response to the failings across several of its care homes, Hiqa told Ability West to submit an “organisation-wide” plan for how it would improve governance.

In a statement, Ability West said its priority was to provide care of the “highest level” in its centres and it had been engaging positively with Hiqa, as well as entering into a service improvement framework with the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The organisation said staffing had been “significantly” impacted in recent years, due to ongoing difficulty recruiting and retaining staff.

The regulator also criticised “very poor safeguarding practices” in a residential home run by the HSE in Co Westmeath. Inspectors found there had been a “serious” alleged safeguarding incident involving residents and staff in Church View residential centre, which cared for five adults with intellectual disabilities. The May 11th inspection found staff members “had not acted in a manner that reflected any of the training they had recently completed” during the alleged incident several days beforehand.

Hiqa ordered the HSE to draw up an “urgent” plan to address the safeguarding shortcomings, which the report said had “compromised” residents’ safety. The inspection report, which did not include further details of the alleged incident, noted that the HSE had started an investigation into the matter.

In a Co Cork care home run by the Cope Foundation, a Hiqa inspection criticised a policy of keeping the kitchen door locked. The May 8th inspection report said this restriction was in response to one adult with intellectual disabilities living in the bungalow. However, inspectors said staff confirmed the kitchen remained locked “most of the time”, even when the resident was not in the house. The report said this policy prevented other residents from freely accessing food or drink independently if they wished to do so.