Centres for children with disabilities ‘non-compliant’ — HIQA

Two centres for children with disabilities in the south have been found not to comply with regulations across all seven areas inspected.

The inspections of the facilities, in Cork and Kerry, carried out by the Health Information and Quality Authority, were published yesterday as part of a tranche of reports issued by the watchdog.

In the inspection of the designated centre for people with disabilities operated by St Joseph’s Foundation in Cork, Hiqa found evidence of good practice, but also concerns in areas such as children’s care planning, risk management, governance and management, and staff supervision. Home to four residents with a moderate to severe intellectual disability, the centre was found to be moderately non-compliant across all seven categories inspected.

Under the category of social care needs, inspectors found: “One of the children was in the care of the State and while there were placement reports on file there was no statutory care plan or evidence of the centre’s responsibility to participate in statutory care planning.” By law, every child in care should have a care plan.

Inspectors also found no plan outlining arrangements for responding to emergencies, and shortcomings regarding prevention and control of infection.

Under safeguarding and safety, it said: “Staff were not knowledgeable about the appropriate procedure to follow in relation to protected disclosures if they were concerned about the behaviour of a colleague.”

The report also said “formal staff supervision did not take place” and there were some issues over medication management and “unclear lines of accountability and responsibility for the delivery of services to children at the centre”.

Similar findings were made after an inspection at a designated centre for people with disabilities operated by St John of God Community Services — South Kerry Services.

It is also home to four residents, and again Hiqa inspectors found moderate non-compliance across all seven categories. Concerns included that “supervision of staff was informal”.

It also said: “There was no evidence that families had been consulted with or had been involved in developing and reviewing their child’s personal plans”; and that “further work was required to prepare children for adulthood and there little evidence that children participated in the domestic routine of the centre, helping to prepare meals or carry out simple household tasks. The line manager for the service expressed concern about finding a placement for children as they moved into adulthood”.