Regulator apologies to whistleblower for ‘shortcomings’

Northern Ireland’s health regulator has said it accepts the findings of a report that criticised how it handled a complaint about a County Antrim nursing home.

The RQIA was criticised in the review into Cherry Tree House nursing home after it found the Carrickfergus home consistently failed to comply with regulations and meet care standards.

The review was triggered after a whistleblower revealed issues with patient safety.

She said she felt vindicated by the report after previously saying her concerns were repeatedly ignored by health professionals.

The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA)’s chief executive Glenn Houston said, “I accept that this report identifies a number of shortcomings for us and in sending copies of the report out yesterday to the whistleblower and the families, I indicated to them in my letter, an apology for those shortcomings,” he said.

“You’re looking back over a period of perhaps almost ten years when there were different systems and structures in place,” he said.

“I think the structures we have in place now are much more robust and will make sure that we do not have a repeat of the situation.”

Mr Houston said there were eight inspectors covering 240 nursing homes in Northern Ireland and that he could “easily employ another eight” but in the “current financial climate that’s unlikely”.’

According to the authors of the independent report, the RQIA should have taken a more rigorous approach with the owners of the nursing home.

The report also said the RQIA’s failure to use the information presented to them led to fundamental aspects of care not being reported.

It recommended the RQIA appoint lay assessors and that the body needed to ensure proper employment controls were in place to prevent certain members of staff, whose actions have already been questioned, from being able to move freely between homes.

The independent team was also critical of some aspects of how the regulators carried out inspections, with some members of staff describing the practice of announced inspections as a waste of time.

Health Minister Edwin Poots said he would be having conversations with the RQIA.

He said, “If there are areas that the RQIA has identified it has a fundamental weakness in, then we’ll want to assist them to ensure they have the teeth to ensure the care provided in each situation is of a high quality and standard,” he said.

The minister also said it was important that any problems identified by the RQIA were acted upon and that “you don’t go back a year later and the same problems exist or they haven’t been resolved”.

A statement from the owner of Cherry Tree Nursing Home, Jennifer Tracey, said: “The review into how the Department of Health, the Health and Social Care Board, health and social care trusts, and the RQIA handled any complaints or whistleblowing concerns about Cherry Tree House between 2005 and 2013 has indicated the need to strengthen and improve the current regulatory processes.

“While the report’s recommendations do not deal with Cherry Tree House specifically, we recognise there is much in the report we can learn from and it provides useful insight into our own shortcomings.

“We will carefully study the entire document for the lessons we can take from it.

“In the meantime, we continue to be committed to working with our regulators to ensure we meet the standards our residents expect and deserve, and also to support stronger and improved regulatory processes, where they improve the nursing and residential home care for older people.”