David Cullinane
Question:2141. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of cases of neglect in nursing homes reported by the HSE and HIQA in 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19956/21]
View answerWednesday, 21 April 2021
Questions (2141)
Written answers
The Chief Inspector for Social Services is notified by persons in charge of nursing homes of many issues pertaining to the care and welfare of residents. Registered providers or persons in charge of a designated centre, are legally required to notify the Chief Inspector within certain timeframes about incidents, events or changes affecting the wellbeing of residents. The Office of the Chief Inspector refers to these as monitoring notifications.
The Health Information and Quality Authority has advised my Department that neglect is not a commonly used term in instances of solicited (information submitted by a provider otherwise referred to as mandatory notifications) or unsolicited information (information submitted by relatives, members of the public, staff) submitted to the Chief Inspector.
In 2020, HIQA received 1,127 NF06 mandatory notifications (any allegation, suspected or confirmed of abuse of any resident), of these, 74 specify an allegation of neglect of the resident. Issues which may be considered neglect, such as inadequate safeguarding measures, failing to meet the needs of residents and delays in accessing medical attention do arise within unsolicited information.
HIQA has informed the Department that last year 1,213 pieces of unsolicited information were received, however a breakdown of how many of these could be described as ‘neglect’ is not currently available.
I have asked the HSE to reply directly to the Deputy in relation to the aspect of his question appropriate to the Executive.