RQIA report says staffing is crucial issue in how acute NI hospitals care for elderly

Northern Ireland's health regulators say staffing has become a crucial issue in how acute hospitals are caring for older people.

Following unannounced inspections, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) found a heavy reliance on temporary staff.

It also found the privacy and dignity of older people was often compromised.

The regulators visited 11 local hospitals that have emergency departments.

RQIA's chief executive Glenn Houston said the inspectors had looked for evidence that care was safe, effective and compassionate.

"Whilst we did see evidence of a lot of good interactions between staff and patients, we found that in some cases, that was not evident," he said.

"In some cases it doesn't take a great deal for a nurse or another health care professional to speak in a way which is supportive and reassuring for patients and provides them with the confidence that they need to deal with whatever it is they're dealing with."

Inspectors found men and women being cared for in mixed wards and sharing bathrooms due to a lack of beds in appropriate wards.

The report also highlights too much reliance on temporary nursing staff.

It said that ward sisters often had difficulties balancing managerial and clinical roles and ensuring staff were suitably trained.

The report highlights some staff not speaking to patients in an appropriate manner and also found poor record keeping that at times did not comply with professional guidelines.

"We did over 1,800 observations across the 11 hospitals and in the course of those observations, 7% of the contacts we would have described as negative," Mr Houston said.

"Where that was the case we felt it very important to bring that matter immediately to the attention of the ward manager or the sister.

"I think this is evidence of the kind of pressure which the health service is under and the difficulties that ward managers have sometimes just filling basic shift patterns.

"We heard from ward managers of an over reliance on agency and bank staff and the impact that that can have."

A lack of staff also meant patients were not being helped with their meals.

On a more encouraging note, the RQIA said a majority of patients they spoke to felt they had received a good standard of care.

Mr Houston said while inspectors were "satisfied" with many aspects of the care provided across hospitals, they would be following-up where there had been shortcomings.

"There are some areas where when we go back to carry out further inspections later this year," he said.

"We'll be looking very closely to see if the trusts have followed through on the quality improvement plans which we're publishing today as part of the individual inspection reports."