Updated at 11pm
SOME RESIDENTS AT a community hospital caring for elderly patients were only given a bath or shower once a month.
That’s according to a new report by health watchdog Hiqa, which has revealed serious breaches of regulations at St Patrick’s Community Hospital in Carrick-on-Shannon.
Inspectors found that while residents were offered a bath or shower once a fortnight, if there was no staff available on the day or residents declined, then a month could pass before the residents were properly washed.
There were 82 residents at the centre at the time the inspection was carried out. The facility provides care for male and female residents aged over 65.
Litany of failures
The report, which can be found on the Hiqa website, also found some staff did not have up-to-date training and that staffing levels were inadequate.
There was also a significant number of falls the centre and some residents had fallen repeatedly and were not adequately protected from further injury.
There was no activities coordinator to organise activities and some residents in the 85-bed hospital were permanently bed bound because of a lack of suitable chairs.
Improvements were found in the quality of food and nutrition but overall the hospital was fully compliant with just six out of 18 standards tested.
The Hiqa inspectors found that a series of shortcomings set out in previous reports had not been addressed.
The management has now pledged to address all the shortcomings in a time-frame set by Hiqa.
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