Galway Bay fm newsroom - A HIQA inspection had identified continued significant issues at Castlegar Nursing Home.
The latest inspection as conducted to determine what progress has been made follows a previous unannounced visit in May 2020 that revealed a range of issues.
Over the past year, there have been two outbreaks of Covid-19 at the centre - the first and most severe was in April, followed by a smaller outbreak in October.
The inspection in May 2020 was triggered following receipt of unsolicited information, which alleged there were deficits in the provision of care, staffing numbers and training.
Evidence found during the inspection partially substantiated these concerns, with inspectors finding deficiencies in a range of areas including staffing, governance and management and infection control.
The latest follow-up inspection in October did find the provider had implemented some of the actions they had committed to following the previous inspection, and these had a positive impact on the experience of residents.
But it once again determined that the home was significantly non-compliant with regulations - in the areas of staffing, governance and management, infection control, medicines and pharmaceutical services, and residents rights.
Inspectors noted that while the number of nurses on duty at any one time had been increased, the hours of non-nursing care staff had been reduced, while there were gaps in the roster in the number of available HCAs.
Concerns were also raised about plans in place to deal with unplanned leave - on one occasion, a nurse had worked a continuous 20 hours when a replacement staff nurse wasn't available.
HIQA found these findings are once again of considerable concern, particularly given the centre had required significant resources and support from the HSE to deal with staff shortages during the outbreak of Covid-19 in April 2020.
It notes that if such an outbreak was to reoccur, the provider would once again be unable to staff the centre.
Elsewhere, improvements were noted in the practices of infection prevention and control, as well as medicines and pharmaceutical services, since the previous inspection.
However, inspectors still found further improvements were needed to meet regulations and both areas were deemed non-compliant.
They also noted that improvements were needed in risk management plans and management systems, to ensure the service is safe, appropriate, consistent and effectively monitored.
