Watchdog tells HSE to shut ‘unsafe’ care unit

THE controversial Ballydowd residential care facility for children should be closed according to an inspections watchdog which said conditions there had worsened since a HSE U-turn on an initial plan to shut it down last year.

The centre, located in Co Dublin, was due to close after the HSE announced last November that it would no longer take in children requiring special care, following a critical report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

The centre had also been at the centre of a controversial incident in which a water hose was turned on a child staying at the facility by a member of staff.

However, Ballydowd has remained open and yesterday HIQA published its latest inspections report on the centre, in which it said it, and the accompanying Solas Special Care Unit, should close.

Yesterday Minister for Children Barry Andrews admitted that Ballydowd would remain open, but that conditions would be improved, while the Solas facility would no longer be in use by October.

The HIQA report said: “The HSE should ensure that the use of the units at Ballydowd and Solas as special care facilities ceases with immediate effect and children are not placed in them until they are completely brought up to standard.”

It added that “the scope and limitations of Ballydowd’s therapeutic provision” needs to be clearly explained to referring social workers and that the HSE needed to ensure there are “safer, suitable options compliant with regulations, standards and inspection recommendations available to the admissions committee when processing referral applications”.

Among the problems uncovered in Ballydowd were:

* The conditions had deteriorated there since the previous inspection and that both it and Solas were “substandard”.

* Despite this, since the last inspection in August 2009, there had been seven admissions and 14 discharges, and at the time of this summer’s inspections three girls and one boy were resident between the two units, some of whom had multiple previous placements including out-of-hours.

* The “fabric of the buildings” had deteriorated creating “an unsafe situation” for “highly vulnerable children”.

* Standards of management and care planning were also deficient there and management standards had not been met.

* Six care staff had not been trained in the Children First national guidelines.

* File management was “poor” and there was a “disconnection” between senior managers and staff.

* There were poor recreational facilities and some rooms had inappropriate graffiti, while safety, fire precautions and security standards were also not met.

Mr Andrews said: “The HSE informed me yesterday that the Solas unit in Crannóg Nua will close in October and will not be used as a special care facility again. In the past two months, refurbishment works in Ballydowd have commenced and two units are being brought up to a standard that accords with national regulations. The first of these units will be completely refurbished in two weeks’ time.” He added that there was a growing demand for special care placements and in the short term these will be facilitated at Ballydowd, where he said a “new management system is now in place”.

Fine Gael children’s spokesman Charlie Flanagan said the HIQA report should be acted on and Ballydowd closed immediately.

“It is quite simple. If a state facility, especially one involved in the care of children, is repeatedly failing to meet its duty of care towards residents then it should be closed,” he said.

“The HSE has already reneged on a promise to do just that in regard to Ballydowd last November. If permanent improvements aren’t made then it should be closed permanently. No exceptions to standards of care can be tolerated.”