RESIDENTS AT A community hospital who tested positive for Covid-19 remained living with residents who had no symptoms or tested negative in multi-occupancy bedrooms.

In one of 34 reports published by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) today, it found that Clonakilty Community Hospital was not compliant in the area of infection control during a June inspection.

Hiqa also urged the HSE to undertake a review of the management of the recent outbreak of Covid-19 at the site and “ensure that there are robust processes in place” to adhere to guidelines from the HPSC in the event of a further outbreak. 

Across its reports today, Hiqa said that its inspectors found evidence of good practice and compliance with the regulations and standards in 11 centres. 

However, evidence of non-compliance was found in a further 23 centres. This non-compliance included areas such as governance and management, infection control, fire precautions, staffing, residents’ rights and training and staff development. 

In the case of Clonakilty Community Hospital, which is registered to provide long-term care for 122 residents, Hiqa noted that the centre was subject to a “significant outbreak” of Covid-19 in April and May with a large number of residents and staff testing positive. 

Hiqa said: “Through frequent communications by the inspector with the management of the centre, it was evident that the HSE was not adhering to and implementing the HPSC national guidelines with respect to the isolation and quarantining of residents that were either suspected of being infected by the Covid-19 virus, tested positive for the virus, or were known contacts of residents that tested positive for the virus.

“These identified risks to residents and staff were escalated to the HSE at a national level on dates including 17 April 2020, 22 April 2020 and 27 April 2020.”

The HSE said that as a consequence of the limitations on the physical premises, residents who tested positive remained in shared bedrooms with residents that may have previously tested negative or weren’t showing symptoms.

There are only a small number of single rooms and they weren’t always available when residents needed to be isolated. 

Hiqa also noted that the multi-occupancy nature of bedrooms didn’t support residents receiving personal care in a manner that protected privacy and dignity. 

The centre, however, was found to be compliant in some areas including record keeping, food and nutrition and managing challenging behaviour.

The reports published by Hiqa today can be found here.