Care home staff avoided fire call-out ‘due to charges’

Staff at a care home in Monkstown, south Dublin, did not contact emergency services during an unexpected fire alarm because they did not want to incur call-out charges, according to a Hiqa report.

A two-day inspection at Richmond Cheshire House in June recorded a number of major non-compliances at the centre, and found its management systems “did not ensure that services provided were safe”.

Care staff at the home, which caters for people with physical and neurological disabilities, committed a “high number” of errors in managing patients’ medication and failed to provide adequate follow-up care following a similarly “high number of unwitnessed falls resulting in head injuries”.

Insurance protection

Dublin Fire Brigade

charges an initial €610 to attend incidents at commercial premises, although costs sometimes rise into the thousands.

Many commercial and domestic properties are shielded from the charges by insurance policies.

The Hiqa report made no mention of Richmond House’s insurance coverage, but labelled measures to prevent the spread of fire in the facility as inadequate.

Inspectors said there was no evidence GPs had been notified about patients who had suffered head injuries from falls.

Richmond House was donated to the Cheshire Foundation in the 1970s.

It was sold to a British company last March and is due to be closed within two years, pending the securing of suitable accommodation for the 17 current residents.