Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Collins for raising the very concerning issue of the Aperee Living nursing home in Belgooly, County Cork. I am aware of the matter. HIQA has engaged in a series of inspections of Aperee Living nursing homes, six of which are detailed in the publication of Thursday, 7 September. Across these facilities, the chief inspector is concerned about the registered provider's ability to sustain a safe and quality service. There has been ongoing regulatory engagement between HIQA and Aperee Living, including provider meetings and cautionary and warning meetings in regard to governance, management and fire safety. Further inspections have been completed over the summer period and further engagement with the group has taken place.

Many of these are unannounced inspections, which are an important part of any effective inspection process. Inspections have uncovered financial irregularities in relation to residents' incomes within six of the nursing homes and the chief inspector will use all powers available to her office to perform the necessary functions to investigate this under the regulations and the Health Act 2007. The Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, are providing the necessary resources to do this.

The inspectors who visited Belgooly were concerned about governance and management at the centre and especially when it came to residents' finances and the areas of continued non-compliance particularly for fire safety management, which had not been addressed by the provider. For this reason a restrictive condition was attached to the registration of the centre back in March to stop any new admissions until fire safety works were completed. This condition was put in place to protect the current and any future residents. At the time of the most recent inspection no substantial fire safety works had commenced. The report also found that other non-compliance from previous inspections were also reviewed. Further action is necessary on infection control, staffing, care planning, healthcare nutrition and residents' rights. Because of this the chief inspector has cancelled Aperee Living Belgooly's registration under section 51 of the Health Act 2007, due to persistent non-compliance with the regulations. Therefore, the home will close on 24 October.

Ensuring the welfare and safety residents when a nursing home closes is essential and the HSE has been informed and is working closely with the provider, residents and their families to assist the residents to move to alternative nursing home accommodation. In May 2023 the centre had 54 residents in situand that is now down to 22 who are still present. Work is being done to find alternative accommodation for them before the nursing home closes on 24 October.

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