The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has cancelled the registration of Fearna Manor nursing home in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon in response to what it says are “serious concerns about the care and welfare of residents”.
A spokesperson for the Health Service Executive told Gript that, “HSE West and North West was notified by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) that it was due to cancel the registration of Fearna Manor, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon as an approved residential care provider on Thursday 9th January, 2025.
“The HSE in accordance with its statutory role are providing support to the nursing home.” it said.
The HSE says it wishes ”to assure everyone that the focus at this time is ensuring the welfare of the residents at this private nursing home during this difficult time for the residents and their families and staff.”
It says it is “liaising with Fearna Manor, Castlerea and HIQA and were appointed registered provider of last resort at 10:00am today Thursday 9th January, 2025.”
The HSE says it is “acting as the registered provider to support residents and their families during this time and will look at all options to ensure the welfare of residents in the long term.”
A HIQA report on the nursing home from 2024 described the facility as a purpose-built single storey building that is registered to accommodate a maximum of 53 dependent persons aged 18 years and over.
The centre caters for male and female residents who require long-term care and also provides care to people who have respite, convalescence, dementia or palliative care needs.
Although the results of this inspection reported that residents at the facility said they were happy there, although some expressed that they would prefer to be at home, issues in regards to financial resources were cited.
HIQA said that the “Chief Inspector had received unsolicited information in relation to concerns about the financial resources available to operate the designated centre and, that the registered provider was not operating the centre in line with the requirements of the Health Act 2007.”
“A review of the organisational structure of the centre and records relating to the governance and management of the centre found that this information was substantiated.” it said.
The report also found issues related to poor efficiency with the disposal of waste at the facility where bins were observed to be overflowing.
“At the time of this inspection there were no active contracts in place to remove both clinical and general waste material. The provider did initiate action to remove the majority of this waste on the day of the
inspection and following the inspection additional photographic evidence was submitted to provide assurances that all waste was now contained within the waste containers located on the site.”
HIQA said that at the time of this inspection there were “sufficient numbers of staff available with the required skill mix to meet the assessed needs of the residents in the designated centre,” however it expressed concern that one member of staff did not have a Garda vetting certificate to hand.
“One staff member employed by the provider did not have a garda vetting disclosure certificate available for review at the time of the inspection. The provider had applied for garda vetting to be processed but failed to ensure that the relevant certificate was stored and available.” it said.