Cooking and cleaning hit by dispute at teen care unit

CONVENIENCE food replaced home cooking and there was no cleaning or housekeeping carried out in a home for troubled children during an industrial relations dispute.

An inspection last October of the home, in Ballydowd, south County Dublin, found serious differences between management and staff, and that these differences “impacted on the standard of care provided to the young people”.

Accommodation standards were criticised: — the Social Services Inspectorate was told structural defects were becoming apparent and several bedrooms were of an “unacceptable standard”, requiring immediate attention.

The special care unit is for young people with emotional and behavioural problems detained by a High Court order.

It has three accommodation units, one of which was closed at the time of inspection due to difficulties recruiting and retaining staff. The action by staff was due to a decision not to replace a cook.

“For just over two weeks before inspection staff had ceased cooking full meals, but provided convenience foods to the young people in the unit without a cook, and in both units there had been no cleaning or daily housekeeping,” the Inspectorate report said.

At the time of the inspection, there were 12 children aged between 13 and 16 years in the unit and 82 staff.

Inspectors found a number of young people in the care unit had difficulties of a psychiatric nature “as evidenced by the levels of self-harm”.

They were concerned that an assessment of the building layout in terms of the potential for self-harm, carried out after the 2005 inspection, had not been followed-up appropriately.

Staff said that while all children were detained primarily for their own safety, “nonetheless several had mental health problems for which there were insufficient community-based services, and particularly secure child and adolescent in-patient facilities”.

On the upside, the inspectorate said there was a good awareness of children’s rights in the unit. All the young people interviewed by inspectors said that they were consulted about daily living in the unit.