‘Some progress in improving’ Kilkenny nursing home, but serious issues still remain
The report offers some promising signs after consecutive damning inspections last year
Brookhaven Nursing Home in Ballyragget recorded welcome improvement in some areas, but multiple recurring issues remained in a new Health Information and Quality (HIQA) report released this week.
Back-to-back alarming drops in compliance observed in inspections from September and October 2025 which detailed serious problems in staffing, governance and quality of care provided, including a mishandled scabies outbreak, had prompted widespread concern from figures such as Kilkenny Senator Patricia Stephenson.
The facility failed to record a single rating of full compliance across the 15 areas it was assessed on in the October inspection which led to HIQA giving notice of a decision to stop admissions to Brookhaven.
The report released this week details a December 2025 inspection six weeks after the previous one in which the centre posted an improved score with five ratings of full compliance, although serious issues persisted with eight areas of non-compliance.
There had been wholesale changes in the governance structure of the facility between inspections with the Person in Charge, Assistant Director of Nursing and Clinical Nurse Manager all leaving their posts.
READ NEXT: Kilkenny hospital records significant increase of income from car parking fees - Kilkenny Live
A new PIC and CNM had been appointed while the recruiting process for an ADON was ongoing.
There had been major faults with staffing levels in previous inspections, but on the day of the most recent HIQA visit, this was found to be sufficient to meet residents’ needs with a minimum of two registered nurses on duty at all times.
Despite adequate staffing on the day of inspection and ongoing recruitment processes, rosters looked over by inspectors evidenced staff vacancies across catering and healthcare assistant divisions, leading to ongoing non-compliance in governance and management.
In the quality of end-of-life care provided at Brookhaven, the inspection found that not all residents had access to palliative care or end-of-life measures from a holistic person-centred perspective and in a dignified manner.
Additionally, the end-of-life wishes of residents and their representatives were not clearly set out within personal plans including their spiritual and psychological needs. These were repeat issues from previous inspections.
A further area of persistent non-compliance surrounded individual assessment and care plans.
Care plans seen by inspectors required review to ensure a specific and person-centred approach was provided and a sample of plans viewed were not sufficiently detailed to guide staff on the care of residents.
An example of this was a resident requesting additional support for mobility, but the measures taken to accommodate this not being documented in their personal plan.
A standout issue from previous inspections was a situation surrounding a serious incident reported to the office of the Chief Inspector of Social Services last August.
At the time of the December inspection, a review into this had still not been completed and the care provider was not able to identify or describe any changes that had been implemented to minimise the risk of similar incidents recurring despite the serious nature of allegations that had been made.
This failure to conduct a review in a timely manner or implement preventative measures led to another instance of repeat non-compliance in resident protection.
Although many problems persisted, Brookhaven had made progress on improving multiple areas of care in a relatively short period of time.
An example of this was quality and safety around medicines and pharmaceuticals services which went from non-compliant to compliant between inspections.
Issues around medicines being improperly stored had been addressed with an appropriate pharmacy service offered to residents and a safe system of medication administration was in place.
Policies also existed for the safe disposal of expired or no longer required medications.
In its summary, the report concluded that ‘the findings of this inspection were that the provider had made some progress in improving the care of residents, however further action was required as non-compliances persisted in the areas of care planning, the protection of residents, upholding residents rights, the premises, and governance and management’.
Brookhaven detailed measures that would be undertaken to continue progress towards full compliance in all areas in a response plan to the report.