A Co Cavan care centre for the elderly has been found to be non-compliant in five areas following an unannounced HIQA inspection.
Breffni Care Centre in Ballyconnell was subject to the unannounced inspection on the 12th of January.
Breffni Care Centre provides 24-hour nursing care to 18 residents over the age of 65, who require long and short-term care, including dementia care and palliative care. On the 12th of January unannounced visit, the centre was deemed to be non-compliant in five areas.
It was non-compliant regarding staffing, with the inspector saying that Breffni Care Centre "failed to ensure the number of staff was appropriate to meet the needs of residents".
The inspector said that systems to ensure adequate staffing resources were provided were not being implemented effectively. As a result, this was impacting on residents' access to meaningful social activities that met their interests and capabilities and their quality of life in the centre.
The centre was also non-compliant in its "governance and management", its premises and residents rights also was classed as non-compliant by inspectors on the date in question. Fire precautions were also non-compliant at the facility with the door to the residents' smoking room did not close fully and remained partially open.
This posed a risk of cigarette smoke entering the rest of the centre and did not ensure effective containment of fire and smoke would be achieved in the event of a fire in this room.
Despite these five non-compliances, the inspector said a number of residents said it was a good centre to live in and that the residents were provided with a high standard of nursing and medical care. A compliance plan has since been put in place at Breffni Care Centre and it has been tasked with becoming compliant in all area by the end of this month.]
