A PRIVATE nursing home has three weeks to carry out a number of undertakings given in court yesterday or the Health Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) has indicated it will proceed with an application that would close it down.
The application relates to Creevelea House Ltd, which is the registered operator of Creevelea House Nursing Home in Laytown, Co Meath.
This is only the third such application by Hiqa.
At a special sitting of Drogheda District Court, Ronan Kennedy, for Hiqa, said that as a result of inspections the chief inspector of the authority decided to seek the order to have the nursing home’s registration cancelled.
He said such an application “is not made lightly”.
The authority is also aware that if the application was granted there would be consequences for the 16 residents who would have to be moved, he added.
Since March last year there have been a number of inspections of the home, he said.
Judge Flann Brennan was also told there were “grave” issues of non-compliance with certain regulations. Mr Kennedy outlined major areas of concern including the absence of a person in charge, a lack of governance, and poor risk management, and said five emergency action plans had been issued by Hiqa.
Matters came to a head during an inspection on March 7th and 8th where six residents were identified as needing attention and a case conference was held on the matter with the Health Service Executive.
The HSE carried out an assessment of the residents and since then it has had staff in the home monitoring it to ensure there are no further concerns, the court was told.
As a result of the HSE assessment and the inspections in early March, the chief inspector of Hiqa felt there was no option but to bring the application before the courts, Mr Kennedy said.
The court also heard that since then there have been some improvements and that Peter Murphy, a director of Creevelea House Limited, acknowledges there is a serious risk to the health and welfare of the residents and was prepared to give a number of undertakings on steps he and the registered provider will take in the short term to mitigate the risks.
In reply to Mr Kennedy, who put it to him that this was “last chance saloon”, Mr Murphy replied: “Yes.” Mr Murphy said a general manager is now working full time at the home and he has two candidates for the position of supervisor.
The undertakings include appointing a full-time manager and a full-time person in charge, carrying out a deep clean of all areas of the home, not admitting any new residents without prior consent, and agreeing to the ongoing presence of HSE staff “to ensure the quality and safety of care for residents where required”.
Mr Kennedy said that if the undertakings are discharged the matter will end, but if not the application to cancel its registration will proceed.
Judge Brennan adjourned the case for mention on May 17th next and said that if the application does proceed he would hear it the following week.