Nursing home inspectors detected almost 9,000 improvements that needed to be made in various homes throughout the country in 2013.

The figure is contained in the Health Information and Quality Authority's (HIQA) first annual overview report on the regulation of designated centres for older people, which has just been published.

According to the report, last year, HIQA carried out 814 inspections of 565 residential centres for older people. Almost eight in 10 of these inspections were unannounced.

While most centres were inspected one or twice, over 40 centres were inspected at least three times. Three centres were inspected five times.

The inspectors detected 8,697 required improvements that needed to be made in order for the various centres to be complaint with national standards. At least one in five of these improvements related directly to risk management and health and safety, incudling the management of medication.

Meanwhile, the report also revealed that HIQA received over 5,300 notifications of certain adverse or potentially harmful events that took place in various centres. Registered centres are legally required to notify HIQA of such events without delay.

"The overview report highlights that HIQA received 5,362 of these notifications in 2013. Some 79% of them related to serious incidents to residents, 373 notifications were about alleged, suspected or confirmed abuse of any resident and 293 were related to an outbreak of an infectious disease," said Phelim Quinn, HIQA's director of regulation and chief inspector of social services.

Serious incidents included serious injuries to residents and unexplained absences of residents from their centres.

HIQA also received unsolicited information 355 times during 2013. This information related to 213 different centres and mostly came from concerned relatives of residents, although 14% of this information came from the centres' own staff.

Mr Quinn emphasised that good practice was observed in the majority of centres that were inspected and improvements were made in most centres after inspections were carried out.

"HIQA seeks to ensure that the health, wellbeing and quality of life of people living in residential care is protected and improved. We are committed to regulating effectively and efficiently, and to ensuring that the outcomes of our work are communicated to all relevant stakeholders, so that the people who live in designated residential centres for older people will continue to receive safer better care," Mr Quinn said.

The report has been welcomed by Junior Minister for Older People, Kathleen Lynch.

"Where serious issues have arisen in relation to the rights, health and safety of residents, HIQA has acted quickly and decisively to address these issues. I have full confidence that they will continut to do so in the future," she commented.