Admissions halted at second Portlaoise nursing home

ADMISSIONS have been halted at a second nursing home in Portlaoise, as the fallout continues from a shocking  RTÉ Prime Time Investigates exposé on care homes for the elderly.

Kilminchy Lodge Nursing Home in Portlaoise is among the Emeis Ireland-run nursing homes where new admissions have been paused, pending the outcome of further inspections. The private company also runs The Residence in Portlaoise, where appalling treatment of residents was revealed in the RTÉ programme.

Both Portlaoise homes cannot take new residents until they have demonstrated full compliance with nursing home regulations, according to a new HIQA report commissioned by Minister of State for Older People Kieran O’Donnell.

The new HIQA report says inspectors have begun a programme of inspection in all 25 nursing homes operated by Emeis Ireland nationwide. Emeis has paused admissions at all 25 facilities for four weeks, with effect from 18 June. The situation will be reviewed around 16 July.

Located just off the Dublin Road, Kilminchy Lodge has capacity for up to 74 residents whose dependency levels range from low to maximum, with 68 single bedrooms and three twin rooms.

The new report titled ‘Regulatory Oversight by the Chief Inspector of Emeis Ireland’s Designated Centres for Older People’ was published yesterday, Tuesday 1 July.

The report states: ‘On 16 June 2025, Emeis Ireland confirmed that they would pause all admissions to all of their nursing homes for a period of four weeks, effective from 18 June, to allow them to review the care of residents in each nursing home to satisfy themselves that the failings identified during the course of our inspections are being addressed.’ 

In relation to Kilminchy, the report says the home has been inspected four times since 1 January 2022, culminating in the most recent unannounced inspection in May 2025. The May inspection found that the home failed two regulations, was substantially compliant with two and was compliant with five.

Nursing home providers have a mandatory requirement to notify HIQA of events such as unexpected deaths, serious injuries and missing residents. Between 1 January 2022 and 18 June 2025, Kilminchy Lodge notified the healthcare watchdog of 43 cases of ‘serious incident/injury to a resident that requires hospital admission/resulted in death’; 40 allegations of abuse to a resident; 15 unexpected deaths and three unexplained absences of a resident.

The report notes: ‘A high number of notifications received from a service does not necessarily indicate a non-compliant service, and often means a strong culture of recognising and submitting incidents which fall into the required notification categories. It is important to note that (these) notifications are required where there is a suspicion or allegation of abuse, which may or may not be substantiated, and can include a wide range of incidents such as residents’ altercations with other residents, the tone that someone is spoken to, through to more significant suspicions or allegations.

The report says: ‘Kilminchy Lodge Nursing Home Limited has at times struggled to achieve and sustain regulatory compliance. Many identified issues were related to the physical premises and aligned institutional practices. Following an extensive programme of construction and renovation many contributing factors were addressed, with Kilminchy Lodge Nursing Home Limited achieving improved compliance.

‘That said, findings from recent inspections identified deficits in the assessment of residents needs and care planning for those needs. Following inspections in 2023 and 2024, assurances were received from the registered provider through the submission of compliance plans. An unannounced inspection was carried out in May 2025 with a report of this inspection in preparation.'

An unannounced HIQA inspection of Kilminchy Lodge last August found issues with record keeping and care plans, while residents who spoke to the inspector described staff as ‘kind, respectful and patient’ and said they received good care and support.

Minister O’Donnell and health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, with Department of Health officials, met with HIQA last Monday 30 June to discuss the report, which follows an interim report on 17 June.

Ministers were advised that HIQA would continue their ‘intensive engagement’ with the Emeis group of nursing homes.

The department said: ‘The contents and findings of both reports are being considered, including the need for additional regulatory powers in respect of nursing homes, with actions in this regard to be taken as a matter of priority.

‘It is important that all aspects of the nursing home sector are scrutinised over the coming period’ to ensure that service delivery and configuration meet the needs of residents and their families in a sustainable and safe manner.'

The report said the initial findings of the inspections showed ‘a system under significant strain’ and a further meeting was held with registered providers on 13 June.

The HIQA review states: ‘At that meeting the registered providers were requested to consider pausing admissions to these nursing homes and to all other nursing homes in the group, until they have implemented their own improvement plan.

‘The registered providers were informed that, in the event that a pause in admissions is not implemented, the Chief Inspector may consider attaching a condition to the registration of each centre, as appropriate, to restrict admissions to each nursing home through our legal processes.’ 

 Admissions to The Residence, which has capacity for 101 people, were halted from 22 April but the operators continued to take new patients for a further eight days, due to what they described as ‘an administrative error’.

HIQA had to issue a formal letter warning of prosecution to The Residence in Portlaoise, after they received evidence that the home was still taking new admissions after being ordered to stop.

The facility had a 75 per cent failure rate in regulation compliance around individual assessment and care plans, as well as governance and management.