Issues of major non-compliance at three residential units in Donegal

The health watchdog has found issues of major non-compliance at three separate residential units in Donegal.
The centres in question are James Connolly Memorial Residential Unit in Carndonagh, St Martin’s House Residential & Respite in Falacarragh and Inbhear Na Mara in Bundoran.
Issues such as staffing, accessibility to facilities and staffing files have been highlighted.
An inspection in St. Martin’s House Residential & Respite in Falcarragh found that although the centre was well-maintained, the provider had not addressed the previous inspection findings.
Two out of the centre’s three bedrooms continued to provide shared accommodation to residents.
The inspector observed that the provider had installed privacy curtains since the last inspection; however, due to the layout of the bedrooms they did not provide adequate private space for residents.
A previous inspection highlighted that the ensuite bathroom was inaccessible to residents with the inspector told at the time that work was scheduled to provide increased access to the centre’s bathroom facilities in response to the findings.
In James Connolly Memorial Residential Unit in Carndonagh it was noted that the staff skill mix did not consistently facilitate both access to community activities and the management of healthcare.
For example, emergency epilepsy medication could only be administered by nursing staff; however, only one nurse was available on occasions, which resulted in planned community activities being postponed.
Meanwhile in Inbhear Na Mara in Bundoran, action from the previous inspection was not addressed, as further improvements were still required in regards to staff files.