Revised procedures at centre after woman locked in bus
The Moorehaven care centre has apologised for its failure to notice that the woman had not left the mini-bus when it dropped her at the facility in Tipperary Town.
Other passengers were taken off but the woman was not spotted.
The bus was driven to a depot at Limerick Junction where the woman remained in a distressed state for almost seven hours, until the bus driver returned.
Denis Kennedy, chairman of the centre, said new procedures were immediately adopted to ensure clients were noticed and absences verified. He said these have been forwarded to the HSE so other centres can learn from its mistake.
In a statement, the HSE said it has been in contact with the Moorehaven centre and it would review the new procedures.
“HSE Disability Services are in close communication with the Moorehaven Centre and have been reassured that the woman in question is well.
“The centre is updating their procedures to safeguard against a similar incident occurring again. These updated procedures are to be forwarded to HSE South’s Disability Services for review and consideration,” it said.
The incident happened on Monday of last week and the woman was kept at home the following day to allow her recover from her ordeal.
She returned with her parents on Wednesday but was not scheduled to attend on Thursday and Friday.
The centre’s general manager, Derry McMahon, went to her house yesterday morning to bring her to the centre.
Mr Kennedy said the centre was aware that it had to rebuild the woman’s trust in its service again after what was a very distressing ordeal.
“Clearly our service user’s confidence in her carers has been damaged by her distressing experience last week and our immediate priority, in consultation with her family, is to ensure her well-being and restore her confidence in Moorehaven,” he said.
The care centre caters for approximately 100 people.
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