The “safety and wellbeing” of residents, staff and visitors of a mental health centre in Co Galway was neglected, an inspection has found.
The Mental Health Commission (MHC) imposed four “critical risk” ratings for non-compliances of rules and regulations on the adult acute mental health unit, located on the grounds of the University Hospital Galway.
Inspectors found a total of six areas of noncompliance, reflecting an increase from three areas last year.
The centre’s overall compliance worsened from 92 per cent in 2024 to 83 per cent this year.
RM Block
The service, which had a bed capacity for 50 people at the time of inspection, provides mental healthcare across a broad spectrum, with 13 consultant-led teams specialising in areas including rehabilitation and recovery, psychiatry of later life, mental health for homeless people and mental health intellectual disability.
The privacy and dignity of patients at the facility was compromised, the MHC report said, due to the lack of locking mechanisms inside the doors of single bedrooms and on the doors of en-suite bathrooms.
Inspectors also noted graffiti on the walls of the main garden.
Three episodes of controlled patient seclusion were observed during the inspection last March, with a lack of intercom equipment resulting in one critical risk rating.
The equipment is recommended to allow communication into or out from the seclusion room at all times. Without it the centre’s seclusion room was deemed “not of a quality as not to endanger the safety of a patient”.
Fire risks in the centre were not adequately identified or assessed, with eight sets of fire doors found not to close fully on release.
“The registered proprietor did not ensure that the overall environment was maintained with due regard to the safety and wellbeing of the residents, staff and visitors,” the MHC report said.
Selskar House, of Farnogue Residential Healthcare Unit in Wexford, had a 97 per cent overall compliance rating, but was found to have one critically rated risk outlined as a failure to follow policy and practice relating to the ordering, prescribing, storing and administration of medicines to residents.
This included lack of access to a pharmacist at the unit.
Inspections of Cois Dalua, Cork, and St Anne’s Unit in Sacred Heart Hospital, Co Mayo, found these places to be more than nine-tenths compliant with regulations.
At 97 per cent compliance, Cois Dalua had one high-risk noncompliance related to the clinical file of one patient which did not document the full names of their prescribed medications.
In the Sacred Heart Hospital, some ligature points – features which could be used to tie a cord, rope or similar – were identified as posing a moderate risk, having not been minimised to the lowest practicable level.
Individual care plans inspected at the unit failed to uphold standards, including review practices, resulting in a second “moderate” risk, contributing to an overall rating of 94 per cent.
