The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published 20 inspection reports on residential centres for older people.

Of the reports published, inspectors found evidence of good practice and compliance with the regulations and standards in 11 centres.

But evidence of non-compliance was found in nine centres.

Inspectors identified non-compliances in areas such as governance and management; healthcare needs; premises; residents’ rights; personal possessions; training and staff development; and written policies and procedures.

They found St Finbarr's Hospital in Cork was not compliant with 14 regulations.

The unannounced inspection was carried out on April 25th and 26th.

It found there were insufficient numbers of staff "to meet the social care needs of staff, for example, thorough the provision of activities."

While a Garda vetting disclosure was not available in the centre for recently recruited staff - and a a Garda vetting disclosure was not in place for all volunteers at the centre.

The inspectors also found that the communication needs of residents were not set out in adequate detail in care plans.

For example, medical records for one resident indicated that they had a hearing impairment and had been assessed for the use of hearing aids but this was not detailed in the residents care plan.

Another resident that enjoyed reading had a significant sight impairment and there was no evidence that there was an exploration of available aids.

Privacy concerns

There were also open visiting arrangements, with visitors seen to freely come and go throughout the two days of the inspection.

There also no adequate communal facilities for residents to receive visitors in private, away from the resident's bedroom.

The report said: "This is further compounded by the fact that a large number of residents live in multi-occupancy bedrooms, many of which have five beds or greater."

Inspectors noted that: "There was not suitable facilities available for families to spend time alone with residents as they approached end of life."

Fire safety

On fire safety, the report said: "There were daily checks of the means of escape to ensure they were not obstructed.

"The assistant directors of nursing on night duty usually raised awareness with night staff of the importance of fire safety and frequently simulated the evacuation of one resident.

"Fire drills were conducted by an external provider approximately every six months.

"These usually involved the evacuation of residents from one bedroom, rather than an entire fire compartment.

"Fire drills conducted at other times usually involved the simulation of the evacuation of one resident in a bed from one of the six-bedded rooms.

"Again, the evacuation of an entire compartment was not simulated."

Use of bedrails as restraints

And it also raised concerns over the use of bedrails as a form of restraint.

"The only form of restraint in use were bedrails and where these were in place, there was a risk assessment completed prior to the use of bedrails and safety checks while bedrails were in place.

"While the number of residents with full bedrails had reduced considerable since the previous inspection, approximately 50% of residents had these in place on the days of the inspection."

"A review was also required of the use of partial bedrails and whether or not these constituted restraint for some residents," HIQA added.