Providers who have not addressed the physical limitations of their premises also fail to comply with other residents’ rights, such as access to their possessions, the management of risk, and the control of infection, HIQA complains.
Non-compliant
The report finds that 34% of nursing homes are non-compliant with buildings and premises regulations.
These providers must take action to provide premises that comply with the regulations by 31 December 2021, the report says.
HIQA also received notification of 14,792 “significant events” in nursing homes, ranging from monitoring and registration requirements to fire-alarm activations, recurring patterns of theft or burglary, as well as injuries to residents.
In 2019, HIQA also received 711 pieces of unsolicited information from members of the public expressing care or concern with the care provided to residents living in nursing homes.
Conditions
At the end of 2019, there were 115 nursing homes with one or more restrictive conditions attached to their registration.
But nursing-home compliance with care and welfare regulations stands overall at 72.4%, according to annual report.
And 16.6% of facilities were deemed “substantially compliant”, while 11.0% were out of order.
Inspections
In 2019, HIQA carried out 547 inspections of nursing homes, and 67% of these inspections were unannounced.
Nine nursing homes were inspected three or more times last year.
At year-end 2019, there were 585 nursing homes in Ireland, comprising 31,969 beds.
This is a net increase of four nursing homes and 718 beds since 31 December 2018.
In 2019, six nursing homes (providing 146 beds) closed and were removed from the register.
Five homes voluntarily ceased operating, while an application to renew registration for a sixth was refused.
In contrast, additional nursing-home beds became available as 14 centres expanded and 104 new nursing homes were registered, providing 870 additional nursing-home beds.
Legal entity
And 22 centres changed ownership when a new legal entity applied to become the registered provider of an existing centre.
HIQA says that these developments reflect changes in the profile of nursing-home ownership, with existing national registered providers exiting the market and new international providers entering.
The vast majority of nursing homes are owned and operated by private providers – 76% (or 443 facilities).
The Health Service Executive (HSE) was the registered provider of 21% (122) of nursing homes.
HSE-funded bodies were the registered owners of 3% (20) of nursing homes.
Privately-owned
Only one of ten newly-registered nursing homes is owned and operated by the HSE (23 beds), while the other nine (847 beds) are privately owned and operated.
Section 38 of the Health Act 2004 states that the HSE can have an arrangement with a person to provide a health or social-care service on its behalf.
“Our findings show that many people are receiving a good-quality service. This is reflected in the positive feedback we hear while on inspection, in our inspection reports, and in the overall trend of improved compliance.
“However, there remains a significant number of children and adults who are not receiving a service appropriate to their needs and preferences,” the HIQA report says.
High quality
HIQA is an independent authority established in 2007 to drive high-quality and safe care for people using health and social-care services in Ireland.
Its role is to develop standards, inspect and review health and social-care services, and support informed decisions on how services are delivered.
HIQA provides guidance on a human rights-based approach in health and social-care services.