HIQA casts doubt on future of Cork care unit

A teenager who absconded from a special care unit (SCU) in Cork for three weeks was at “huge risk” upon her return but was inexplicably placed in isolation for long periods, a HIQA report into a high-security unit for girls in Cork has found.

Following HIQA’s most damning report ever written about a service, published late last year, a follow-up inspection of the centre for troubled teens took place last month.

And while inspectors found improvements at Gleann Álainn, outside Cork city on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital in Glanmire, the report called into question the long-term future of the service.