
New admissions have been suspended to all 25 care homes according to HIQA.
Emeis Ireland, the nursing home group at the centre of last month’s RTÉ Investigates programme, has suspended new admissions to all 25 of its care homes across the country, according to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).
In an interim report, HIQA outlines the regulatory background of the 25 facilities and reveals that operational restrictions had to be imposed on seven of them due to non-compliance with care standards.
In Kildare, Emeis operates five nursing homes in Kildare:
Ashley Lodge, Tully East just outside Kildare Town
Mill Lane Manor, Sallins
Mount Pleasant Lodge, Kilcock
The Residence Maynooth
and Maynooth Lodge.
According to RTE, Maynooth Lodge has "had an inconsistent history of regulatory compliance arising out of an unstable governance and management structure, insufficient staffing resources at times and ineffective service oversight."
The HIQA report notes that "since 2021 there have been seven changes in the person in charge".
Inspectors were sufficiently concerned to require weekly updates on staffing levels from October 2021 to March 2022.
There was an improvement in March 2022, leading to an increase in the number of beds permitted at the home in May of that year.
It is not clear how long the new admissions suspension is in operation for.