A report into the running of a nursing home in Co Waterford that was closed last week has stated that, amongst other things, management failed in its care of a resident who was abused by another resident.
The report into Woodlock nursing home in Portlaw was carried out by the Health Information Quality Authority and was compiled over two days in November of this year.
It also states that a resident was physically brought to the floor by two staff in a way that placed the resident at risk.
Some of the findings in the report have been rebuffed by the owners of the nursing home.
A court order closing the private nursing home was granted last week and all 20 residents have since been moved out.
The report states that improvements were still required in relation to residents' access to medication; monitoring of residents' health; food and fluid intake and wound care. It also found there was inappropriate management of residents’ finances.
Concerns were also identified relating to the safe management of controlled drugs and appropriate use of methods of physical restraint.
The nursing home was owned by Woodlock Residential Care Limited.
HIQA said the provider consistently failed to adequately assess the needs of a resident who was involved in an incident of abuse with another resident in February of this year.
A monitoring system introduced in March, but HIQA says it was not adequately implemented.
It is understood the incident involved a male resident who was alleged to have had physical contact with a female resident.
A spokesperson for the owners said the incident was of a minor nature.
HIQA says that during its inspection in November, it saw the resident in question unsupervised on two occasions during the day with access to a female resident, which it said raises issues concerning the risk to residents and the duty of care to the resident in question.
The report states that a number of other incidents demonstrates the provider has a limited understanding of the dynamics of abusive situations and protection systems.
It said inspectors reviewed an incident where a resident was physically brought to the floor by two staff in a restraint manner for non-compliance.
HIQA says this placed the resident at risk of serious injury, adding there was no evidence the action was reported to the resident's family or that it was adequately investigated and reviewed.
A spokesperson for the owners say that in relation to this matter, a resident had become agitated and two staff had broken her fall as she fell backwards and they lowered her to the floor to stop her being injured.
