The RTÉ Investigates programme uncovered multiple examples of care failings and neglect of vulnerable older residents at The Residence Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor in Glasnevin in north Dublin, two nursing homes run by Emeis Ireland.
HIQA confirmed that it is carrying out a review of all nursing homes operated by the Emeis Ireland group.
Here, Aoife Hegarty, Deputy Editor, RTÉ Investigates, looks at some of the questions HIQA still has to answer.
The Residence Portlaoise only opened in November 2023. On the surface, it is a new modern facility - its state-of-the-art appearance offers a reassuring façade.
Yet the facility has found itself in hot water with the sector's regulatory body, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), on repeated occasions.
Over multiple inspections, the inspectorate found repeated non-compliance with regulations at the centre.
If you read the last publicly available inspection report for The Residence Portlaoise, dating from February this year, you will find inspectors found the home was not compliant with six of the eight categories of regulation it was marked on.
In fact, the facility was not deemed compliant on any front and although the HIQA inspectors noted that some of the residents they spoke with said staff at Portlaoise were "lovely and did their best", there "was not enough of them to help everyone" and they attributed this to the centre being "short-staffed".
The report concluded that "…overall governance and management of the centre had deteriorated since the last inspection".
Resident numbers grow despite restriction
Yet from the previous inspection, numbers at the home had grown, with resident figures rising from 55 to 70 people in February this year. Today, families are asking why it took so long before substantive action was taken.
This morning, HIQA confirmed that on foot of that February inspection, it initiated proceedings to stop admissions to the home.
The provider was informed of this decision after the inspection with formal notification being issued in March. From 22 April the restriction came into effect.
But RTÉ Investigates is aware The Residence Portlaoise was in breach of this sanction after that date and during which time our undercover carer worked at the home.
This revelation prompts just one of many other questions now being asked by affected families in the wake of last night’s RTÉ Investigates documentary.
Key questions for HIQA
What happens next? Will there be repercussions for a provider which acted in contravention of HIQA’s instruction?
And when HIQA says it is taking escalated regulatory action for both nursing homes featured in the programme, what does that exactly mean?
What powers does HIQA have? And if implemented, what will these actions mean for vulnerable residents? Families desperate for clarity say they need this information now.
We know The Residence Portlaoise was inspected again in recent weeks on foot of the concerns reported to it by RTÉ’s carer.
Read more: Serious care concerns found at leading private nursing home group
HIQA says that inspection report is currently being finalised. What did it find, and will it corroborate the findings of our investigation?
It is clear that some of the poor practices we witnessed do not fall under HIQA’s remit. Who will monitor the need for improvement in relation to those issues?
RTÉ Investigates is aware that after the latest unannounced inspection in mid-May, senior management at Portlaoise expressed satisfaction that it had gone "very well". Pizzas were delivered to the home for staff as a mark of celebration.
Just weeks before this, RTÉ cameras captured recurring and serious issues at the home. Some of the incidents we witnessed mirrored the findings of previous inspections, but we also identified other concerns. Will HIQA have also found this evidence?
Contrasting situation for Beneavin Manor
A hundred kilometres away on Dublin’s northside affected families of residents at Beneavin Manor in Glasnevin find themselves in a contrasting situation.
The most recently published HIQA inspection report for the nursing home dates from November 2024 and paints a healthy picture.
The report references residents being very happy, with the inspectors finding the centre was well managed and that the quality and safety of the services provided were of a good standard. But not long after, when RTÉ’s carer took up employment at the facility, she found a very different scene.
Over the last few weeks, we have spent hours sitting around kitchen tables talking with families whose loved ones appeared in last night’s documentary.
Some already had inklings of concern, but for many they remained reassured that recent HIQA inspection reports for Beneavin Manor showed little to be worried about.
Today, they are asking how a regulatory system could have failed them and their precious relatives so badly?
Now is the time for more information, not less
In November last year, Beneavin Manor was inspected against 16 categories of regulations - it was deemed to be compliant in the vast majority and did not fail on any grounds.
Just a few months later, we found staff on the floor where our carer worked struggling in an environment of time pressures, staffing shortages and resource challenges. How did this all go unnoticed by HIQA?
We put all this to the regulator in advance of our investigation last night. In fact, we sent them over 20 detailed questions - the majority relating to the care and safety of vulnerable residents, but they did not respond directly to many of our questions. Today, many of those questions remain outstanding.
Having now been asked by Minister of State with responsibility for Older People Kieran O’Donnell to review all homes here owned by Emeis Ireland, HIQA says it cannot comment any further so as not to prejudice the outcome of this work.
While welcome news, affected families says this brings its own concerns - now, they say, is the time for more information, not less.
RTÉ Investigates has contacted Emeis Ireland for comment - the company has yet to respond.
RTÉ Investigates: Inside Ireland's Nursing Homes can be watched on the RTÉ Player. Documentary produced/directed by Lucy Kennedy.
