Residential care abuse complaints ‘no surprise’
Deirdre Carroll said reports of complaints of abuse and mistreatment of people with disabilities did not come as a surprise.
She said it was concerning and disturbing, but until there was some sort of statute whereby the Health Information and Quality Agency (HIQA) could go in and deal with issues, we would not know what goes on.
Inclusion Ireland, she said, has been campaigning on the issue of inspection for 10 years. Currently standards for inspection are being prepared for children’s services.
Minister with Responsibility for Disabilities John Maloney has signalled he hopes to extend inspection to adult facilities, but has not said when.
Ms Carroll questioned why they could not both come in at the same time. She said about €5 million in funding would be enough to train and employ inspectors.
Labour Party spokeswoman on equality Kathleen Lynch said “incredibly and shamefully” there was no statutory inspection regime in place to deal with this.
“While the HIQA is responsible for standards in residential nursing homes and in residential centres for children, its remit does not extend to facilities providing services for adults with intellectual disabilities. This must be remedied as a matter of extreme urgency. Responsibility for standards in these facilities must be placed on a statutory basis and should come under the auspices of HIQA,” she said.
Meanwhile John Dolan, head of Disability Federation Ireland, said people with disabilities, both children and adults, can be extremely vulnerable and have poor communication skills so the need for a caring environment, comprehensive legislative, governance and management systems are essential to ensure they are safe and reach their potential.
“The necessary requirements for persons with disability is enshrined in both national and international (UN) policy and legislation and all involved must work in to ensure the most vulnerable in our society experience the benefits of this policy,” he said.
“In Ireland we now know enough about the importance of having robust systems to deliver and monitor the quality of person centred services to people who can be vulnerable. Timely and effective systems for governance, management and performance review as well as complaints and redress systems are essential elements of that.”
The HSE last night said it would welcome independent inspection of its residential facilities for people with intellectual disabilities, both those directly operated by the HSE and facilities funded by it.
