Hiqa finds Cork centre for people with disabilities not managing aggressive residents

A Co Cork centre for people with disabilities that had court-enforced restrictions placed on it has been the subject of several more complaints by Hiqa.

Hiqa inspectors said one of the centres at St Raphael’s in Youghal is not properly managing aggressive residents, enabled a resident to wander outside, and has substandard fire prevention practice, according to Hiqa.

Last November, Hiqa applied to the District Court “for specific restrictive conditions to be placed on the registration of St Raphael’s Residential Centre, Oakvale, and Youghal Community hostels in Youghal”.

In a recent audit of Oakvale, inspectors expressed “concern about the the impact on other residents of another resident who had hit or slapped” residents and staff 25 times between January and April.

It also found that, unbeknownst to staff, a resident had left the building in March this year due to a broken lock on a door.

This resident “required staff support to maintain their safety whenever leaving the unit”. Two months later, the lock was still not fixed.

Hiqa also established that, despite a fire safety officer ordering that the “doors to bedrooms accommodating immobile residents must be widened immediately and beds which are suitable for evacuation provided”, this work had not been done.

It found that five staff were not trained in fire evacuation and that fire drills did not take into account reduced staffing between night and day and the challenges of evacuation at night.

Overall, inspectors noted that there had been “considerable progress” since the last inspection.

Another Hiqa report published yesterday revealed that, at a four-person respite centre for the disabled in Donegal, when one person made an allegation of abuse against another resident, they found their respite arrangements were altered.

It also found other serious abuse allegations had not been “appropriately reported to management”.

Inspectors found “serious failings in the governance and management of this centre” and that “complaints were not identified as complaints” and, therefore, not appropriately responded to.

It also discovered evidence “that family members were not informed of significant events” such as when a member of the public made a complaint about the behaviour of a staff member towards a resident.

In another residential centre in Donegal, managers were found to not be competent in managing abuse allegations, and there were “inadequate safeguarding and safety systems which exposed residents to inappropriate risks”.

Hiqa also found numerous incidents of residents having episodes that were not properly risk assessed.

For example, two residents had fallen between five and six times each without falls-management safeguards being put in place by management.