An Ennis inpatient mental health centre has been rated as ‘high risk’ in three different areas following an inspection at the facility.
Cappahard Lodge, in Knockanoura, was visited by Mental Health Commission inspectors in February of this year.
Clare FM’s Josh Prenderville reports.
Inspectors found the facility, located on the outskirts of Ennis town, had not updated residents’ care plans, and was highly non-compliant with regulations in doing so.
Half of care plans didn’t identify resources required for each resident, with three in ten not specifying appropriate goals for each resident as is required.
The approved centre was also highly non-compliant with a regulation on therapeutic services and programmes – a weekly occupational therapy group had been cut back to three weeks a month, with the sessions deemed by the Commission ‘not directed towards restoring and maintaining optimal levels of psychosocial functioning of residents’.
The third category related to staff training, with the facility now having developed an updated schedule on fire safety and basic life support training as a result.
Cappahard Lodge has told the Commission it has now updated its individual care plans, with training for staff on the matter completed last month.
Occupational Therapy services have returned to residents on a weekly basis since the end of August, with a review – initially delayed by COVID-19 – having now been carried out.
Overall, the facility was rated as ‘excellent’ in 13 other areas, including visits and privacy, with Cappahard Lodge rated as 83% compliant by the Commission – down 10% on the year before.
That report can be viewed in full here: https://www.mhcirl.ie/File/Cappahard-Lodge-IR-2020.pdf
