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Health watchdog visits Donegal nursing home after six deaths in two weeks

Five people are said to have died over the last five days at the privately-run nursing home near Buncrana. Officials from the HSE and HIQA are at the home today as an investigation continues.

MORE OFFICIALS FROM the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) are expected at the nursing home in Co Donegal where six patients have died over the past two weeks later today.

Five of the six deaths are reported to have taken place over the last five days with it said that they were a result of a “respiratory type illness”. A further 27 people are reported to have been taken ill and are currently being treated.

An official from the health watchdog arrived at the Nazareth House nursing home in Fahan near Buncrana in Donegal last night on foot of discussions with the Health Minister James Reilly yesterday.

More officials are expected to arrive later today “to ensure that all action is taken in the best interests of the care and welfare of the residents and staff,” the Minister said last night.

A spokesperson for HIQA told TheJournal.ie this morning that it was working with the local HSE authorities and the nursing care providers in the home to “ensure the best quality care of residents at the home.”

The Minister said that all appropriate treatment and control measures are being put in place in light of the development. Some visitor restrictions are in place and well patients have been kept separated from those who have taken ill.

Samples have been taken from people who have been recently ill and have been sent to the National Viral Reference Laboratory. Some results are expected back later today, Darina O’Flanagan, the director of the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre, said this morning.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said that tests for bacteria had come back negative indicating that this “sounds like a viral illness”. O’Flanagan also said that the HSE was first informed of the deaths on Sunday.

The nursing home was built in 1981 and is owned and managed privately by the Sisters of Nazareth. It is situated in spacious grounds just outside Buncrana and overlooks Lough  Swilly in Co Donegal.

The facility has 48 beds with the Irish Times reporting that about 39 residents are at the home at present.

No one at the nursing home could be reached for comment this morning.

Read: HSE “monitoring situation” after six deaths in Donegal nursing home

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17 Comments
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    Mute Fergal O' Reilly
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    Dec 10th 2020, 1:14 AM

    That a 500 year leasehold was signed with a private developer in 1997, says a lot about the sad state of public planning in the city.

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    Mute Niamh Hand
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    Dec 10th 2020, 12:21 AM

    That’s a good news story to go to bed with. Good on Lord iveagh

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    Mute steve white
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    Dec 10th 2020, 12:38 AM

    @Niamh Hand: where was he the last 20 years?

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    Mute Fergal O' Reilly
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    Dec 10th 2020, 1:11 AM

    @steve white: 20 years ago a still recent lease agreement was in effect, so he was as powerless to intervene as the rest of us.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Dec 10th 2020, 5:09 AM

    @steve white: dope

    61
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    Mute Chris O'Sullivan
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    Dec 10th 2020, 9:47 AM

    @steve white: drinking pints I’d assume

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    Mute the-baldie-lad
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    Dec 10th 2020, 12:25 AM

    Hands up if you agree that Alan Kelly is an eejit

    190
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    Mute Mary Nugent
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    Dec 10th 2020, 1:25 AM

    @the-baldie-lad: utd fan out in the open was it Leo on the luas

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    Mute Shane McGrath
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    Dec 10th 2020, 12:22 AM

    Excellent news.

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    Mute DJ François
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    Dec 10th 2020, 10:36 AM

    Be nice to have something along the lines of the English market in Cork

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    Mute muirhill121
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    Dec 10th 2020, 7:49 AM

    Hopefully, he won’t grant another lease to DCC so they can balls it up again!

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    Mute Shay Flynn
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    Dec 10th 2020, 11:00 AM

    My dad had a butchers shop there for years.

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    Mute Colm Molloy
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    Dec 10th 2020, 11:38 AM

    A market like the ones in Barcelona would be the job there..

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    Mute D Cullen
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    Dec 10th 2020, 8:36 AM

    Should be sequestered by the state along with all lands and properties that were divided amongst the lords of the English elite!

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    Mute Nick Caffrey
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    Dec 10th 2020, 9:15 AM

    @D Cullen: That’d be great if the state were capable of managing the lands and properties. Read the article and you will understand that the State is not up to the job.

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    Mute El Sparko
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    Dec 10th 2020, 9:20 AM

    @D Cullen: so the state can then sell it on the ruthless developers and give themselves pay raises??
    No thank, at least Lord Iveagh will do something that benefits the people of Dublin, like he has done many times in the past.

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    Mute Paul
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    Dec 10th 2020, 9:46 AM

    @D Cullen: except the Guinness’s are Anglo-Irish not English, just like many of Ireland’s rebel leaders of the past, Pearse / Wolfe Tone etc. The first Lord Iveagh was born is Dublin and is known for providing housing for the poor etc.

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    Mute The world outside the M50
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    Dec 10th 2020, 11:06 AM

    His Christian/First name is very odd, don’t you think – ‘Lord’ ??

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