Care home owners say action plan is addressing safety concerns

Four Seasons Health Care was responding to questions about what action it has taken to tackle issues raised by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) following an unannounced inspection at the nursing home earlier this year.

The inspection, carried out in April, identified concerns in relation to the standard of the physical environment, and the lack of progress made in achieving compliance against earlier RQIA recommendations.

Following publication of the inspection report at the end of May, RQIA representatives held a “serious concerns meeting” with Four Seasons Health Care.

“At this meeting the management of Pond Park acknowledged the concerns RQIA had highlighted and provided a comprehensive action plan to address these issues. RQIA was satisfied with the assurances provided, and as a result did not take enforcement action at this time,” an RQIA spokesperson explained.

“The safety and wellbeing of all those living at Pond Park is of paramount importance to RQIA and we will assess the implementation of the action plan and compliance with regulations at our next unannounced inspection at Pond Park.”

Giving an assurance that the concerns raised in the RQIA inspection report are being addressed, a spokesman for Pond Park Care Home said: “We have been engaged with the RQIA following their inspection and we have put in place a comprehensive action plan with which the RQIA is satisfied.

“The safety and wellbeing of our residents is central to us at Pond Park Care Home. We will continue to work with RQIA to ensure our high standards, and theirs, are adhered to.”

The RQIA conducts almost 3,000 inspections of health and social care services across Northern Ireland each year. Its findings are published online at www.rqia.org.uk/inspections