A Co Cavan care centre for the elderly has been found to be non-compliant in six areas following an unannounced HIQA inspection.
Breffni Care Centre in Ballyconnell was subject to the unannounced inspection on the 14th 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 14th of January unannounced visit, the centre was deemed to be non-compliant in six 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 centre was also non-compliant in its "governance and management", because the "oversight processes did not ensure that care and services were safe and appropriate" and "appropriate contingency arrangements" were not enacted for residents who contracted covid-19.
This lack of "appropriate contingency arrangements" for residents who contracted covid also meant the centre was non-compliant in infection control.
The centre's premises were also deemed non-compliant - at the time of inspection, one shower facility was used as a storage area, which meant ten residents had access to one shower and one bath.
Meanwhile, the HIQA inspector said "assurances regarding residents' safe evacuation in the event of a fire or other emergency in the centre at night were not available", leading to a non-compliance in fire precautions.
Elsewhere, while the inspector said measures were in place to ensure residents were protected from risk of abuse, it was deemed that there was a "risk of unauthorised persons accessing residents' accommodation".
Despite these six 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.
