HIQA’s Older Persons’ Team continues to implement its Enhanced Monitoring Approach in nursing homes and in tandem with this, nearly one in five nursing homes (over 18%) have had a HIQA inspection so far this year.
Susan Cliffe, Deputy Chief Inspector of Social Services, said, “We have enhanced our inspection methodology by moving away from our ‘outcomes-based’ inspection approach towards a regulation-based inspection report.
“The appearance of our inspection reports will change to a format which will be clearer and easier to read. We hope that this new format will continue to promote improvement by making it easier to recognise good practice in nursing homes while also identifying areas for improvement.
“We continue to maintain regular contact with registered providers through our system of processing regulatory notices and renewal of registrations. We would like to thank the registered providers of nursing homes for their ongoing commitment to improving the safety and quality of care for older people in Ireland.
“In the first three months of this year, we completed 143 inspections of nursing homes across Ireland. Of these, 92 inspections were carried out to inform a new registration application or application to vary an existing condition or to renew registration. In addition, 40 inspections focused on monitoring compliance.
“As we continue into 2018, the team will maintain its focus on dementia care in nursing homes. This continues to be important due to the increased vulnerability of people who have dementia. So far in 2018, the team has completed 11 dementia-themed inspections, which have had a quality-improvement focus looking specifically at this area of care.
“In 2017, we maintained our focus on dementia care in nursing homes. Last year, 103 inspections of nursing homes looked specifically at this area. We look forward to the publication of our 2017 Overview Report which will document in detail the work done by the team during 2017.”
