The Health watchdog has found eight areas of non-compliance in a Co. Sligo nursing home.
Sonas Ard na Gréine in Enniscrone is described as a purpose built nursing home providing 24-hour long term, convalescent and respite care for both male and female residents.
There were 49 residents in the centre at the time of the unannounced inspection which took place on October 11th last year.
The details have been published today.
At the time of this inspection the provider did not have a person in charge in place who met the requirements of the regulations.
The management structure in the designated centre was said to be unclear. On the day of the inspection there was no person in charge in the designated centre.
The absence of a person in charge with the appropriate knowledge and experience was said to be impacting on the quality and safety of care and services as evidenced in the findings of this inspection.
The provider had failed to ensure that there were adequate numbers of staff with the right knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the residents.
This was further compounded by the lack of a clear recruitment procedure to ensure that appropriate staff were recruited to vacant roles
Risk were not identified and managed effectively.
The inspectors found management of medicines and pharmaceutical services required a number of actions to ensure that this service was safe and effectively monitored.
Fire safety risks were not managed. For example managers and staff had not identified that a smoke alarm had been covered over. In addition gaps and breaks in fire stopping in a number of areas had not been identified and addressed.
A member of staff had been appointed without an appropriate Garda Vetting in place.
Inspectors were not assured that medication practices were in line with the safe administration of medicines professional guidance, for example: Controlled drugs were not consistently administered in line with best practice professional guidelines. The practice of double checking controlled drugs at the start of each shift and prior to administration, was not always adhered to.
Since the inspection, the provider has made several improvements including promoting Staff Nurse has been promoted to Senior Staff Nurse with specific responsibilities.
All recruitment records, including garda vetting, are saved in the staff members files and all of these are now up-to-date.
The risk register has been updated to all identified risks. Further training for the new management team will be incorporated into their team development.
All nursing staff have completed medication management training to ensure they are up-to-date with best practices and guidelines.
A weekly review is also taking place of medication trolleys, fridges and medication storage has been implemented to ensure that medication is appropriately managed.
Link to full report here:
