The State health watchdog was granted an emergency court order to shut down a nursing home over fears residents could not be protected during the coronavirus outbreak. Hiqa, which has responsibility for oversight of nursing homes, restarted inspections on May 27th after temporarily suspending them on March 13th. Hiqa does not identify the nursing home in its report, but it says reports on all of the nursing homes visited during risk inspections over recent weeks will be published in due course. “One person in charge told us how they slept in the nursing home for six continuous nights due to staff shortages,” the Hiqa report stated. “The continued use of multi-occupancy rooms and outmoded premises in some nursing homes undoubtedly created challenges in containing the spread of infection.”Regulations governing nursing homes are also “outdated” and need to be urgently reformed, she added.

Source: The Irish Times July 21, 2020 13:01 UTC