HSE teams to tackle abuse of adults in care

The HSE has announced plans to set up a network of “safeguarding” teams to stamp out abuse of vulnerable adults in care on a week overshadowed by allegations of such behaviour.

Under its new national policy on Safeguarding Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abuse, nine safeguarding and protection teams, staffed by social workers, will be established around the country.

Pat Healy, HSE director of Social Care, said €1.2m has been secured to staff the teams and drive out their “zero tolerance” approach to abuse.

The new policy, launched yesterday, comes just days after allegations of mistreatment of adults in Aras Attracta, a Co Mayo home for the intellectually disabled, including claims of manhandling, forcefeeding, slapping and kicking.

Junior health minister Kathleen Lynch said while she hoped such practices were not replicated in other care homes, it was not possible to say so definitively.

However oversight of homes for the intellectually disabled had improved since the commencement of inspections last year by the health watchdog, HIQA, Ms Lynch said.

Rollout of the new “get tough” on abuse policy – a follow-on from the national policy on elder abuse – will mean the recruitment of 18 social workers to add to 35 professionals already working in the field, bringing to 53 the total complement to staff the new teams.

Members of the teams will be trained in receiving complaints and will provide support in assessing and addressing those complaints. Any HSE or HSE-funded service providing social care services to vulnerable adults will be tasked with appointing a designated officer to whom allege abuse cases will be reported.

Serious allegations will be referred on to the gardaí and/or HIQA and tight timeframes have been set within which certain follow-up actions must take place.

A national implementation team is being set up to drive the new policy as well as a national office for safeguarding vulnerable persons and an inter-agency working group involving the gardaí and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.

Ms Lynch said they were “very conscious now” because of what they had learned from situations such as Aras Attracta that instances of bad practice were not always “about structures, buildings or resources”.

Mr Healy said they had used Aras Attracta as a testbed for the new policy and that all the staff had been trained in it since concerns were first raised about practices at the home early in 2014.

Nine staff at the home have been suspended on foot of the abuse allegations and HIQA, the HSE and the gardaí are conducting investigations.

Mr Healy said if the allegations made in relation to care practices at the home are proven to be correct they were “wholly unacceptable” adding that “that type of behaviour and that type of culture is to be changed”.