The HSE South last night said complaints it received regarding the standard of care at a nursing home in Cork in 2003 were treated very seriously and acted upon immediately.
The HSE was responding to details revealed yesterday of a report commissioned by the Southern Health Board that recommended patients not be sent to St Albert's nursing home in Sunday's Well due to conditions found by an investigation team.
Fine Gael frontbench spokesman Fergus O'Dowd read into the record of the Dáil details of the report into the home, which at the time was owned by a Cork doctor, Dr Martin Maloney. Mr O'Dowd said Dr Maloney had operated the home between 1994 and 2006. The home changed hands on January 1st last year.
The then Southern Health Board (SHB) established an investigation team to inquire into standards at the home following three separate complaints relating to care of residents.
The report concluded that the home in question was in breach of 20 regulations and it recommended that "ill old people should not be referred to this nursing home".
The investigation team led by a management consultant found that there was "clearly a pattern of adverse incidents over the eight-month period from December 2002 to the end of July 2003". It noted that there were no formal arrangements in place for a matron/nurse in charge during the first eight months of 2003 and that this was a "major contributory factor in the occurrence and management of these incidents".
The investigative team also said that the lack of training of existing staff compounded the "unsatisfactory handling of these matters". It also noted the "exceptional low level of nursing staff and support staff".
It also found that:
• Patients' clothes were missing and were worn by other residents;
• There was a delay in changing incontinence wear in some instances;
• One patient, who was transferred to hospital without the family being informed, was found to have untreated pressure sores, bruising, dehydration and a chest infection.
• A patient walked out the front door and staff did not notice that she had left.
Mr O'Dowd claimed that Ms Harney's department failed to act to address the situation at the home, "despite being in possession of the most damning information imaginable".
Ms Harney said it was the health board that were unhappy with what they had been hearing and they asked for that management consultant to go in and make recommendations.
Last night the HSE South said the SHB engaged an independent chair to head up an investigation which was completed in September 2004. "Immediate action was taken at that time to address the specific recommendations relating to medical, nursing and environmental policies and procedures within the nursing home."
The statement said the nursing home was subject to ongoing inspection to ensure compliance with all of the report's recommendations and in particular, the SHB placed a condition on the nursing home's continued registration, requiring specific issues to be addressed, and these issues were subsequently complied with.