Hiqa denies letting people down in its regulation of Limerick hospital
Patients Chaney/ The Angela Picture: Chief Gareth Fitzgerald Of Collins Highlighted Had Overcrowding Executive It Uhl Hiqa On Impact At Said
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has denied it has let down people in Limerick and surrounding areas in its regulation of University Hospital Limerick while before the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday.
It also said closure of nursing homes was a last resort, saying the only home which lost its registration this year followed the owners not carrying out promised financial reforms.
The health watchdog was discussing standards and regulation for hospitals, nursing homes and other areas.
Senator Martin Conway said with more than 100 patients counted on trolleys almost every day in UHL now, “[patients)] feel the whole system has let them down, including Hiqa”.
He asked for examples of what Hiqa had done to “assist in resolving the serous situation that exists in Limerick hospital”.
Chief executive Angela Fitzgerald said it had highlighted the impact of overcrowding on patients there.
“We know and we have called out very clearly in our first report we did on Limerick, that they failed to comply on all of the standards that we looked at,” she said.
She said the negative impact on patients should be separated from the hard work being done by ED staff.
“It is one of the busiest emergency departments and it has the smallest bed-base of the Model 4 hospitals relative to its size,” she said.
“The requirement for the 96 beds which are now going in is welcome, but it is very clear that is not sufficient. And we have been strong in advocating for a second group of beds to go in there.”
Ms Fitzgerald added: “Managing the beds effectively is the second piece” in addressing this. She highlighted shortages in community services as “also central” to resolving these issues.
Overall Ms Fitzgerald said: “A number of hospital emergency departments are failing to meet the requirements of the national standards because they remain overcrowded.”
They previously highlighted University Hospital Waterford as a site where the situation had improved.
Ms Fitzgerald told the committee: “Some hospitals are further ahead in addressing this overcrowding problem in emergency departments, even where they have had problems in the past.”
Committee chair Seán Crowe noted in recently published inspection reports of a number of homes Hiqa had found financial concerns for residents.
Carol Grogan, chief inspector of Social Services, said it removed registration from one home this year.
She has “serious concerns” about management of residents’ finances in a number of homes, which she did not identify.
“I took the unusual step of requesting of Angela, our CEO, under Section 72 to bring in the expertise of a forensic accountant, to inspect with me some of those centres,” she said.
That process is ongoing.
“I’m in escalated regulatory action in relation to these centres, one I have cancelled, another one is in the process — the provider can appeal the decision I have made to the district court which is in place at the moment,” she said.
She has met the provider a number of times, and said this provider has 10 homes but each are individual legal entities.