Disability centre still falls short on standards

A health watchdog report has found that a centre in Kilkenny which had previously been the subject of a court order over fire safety concerns is still falling short of necessary standards of care.

The designated centre for people with disabilities operated by St Patricks Centre (Kilkenny) Ltd was previously found to have been in serious breach of the regulations and, in recent months, a new board of management had been appointed there.

Despite some improvements, “inspectors found actions from the previous inspection had not been adequately addressed”.

“Some residents living in parts of the centre continued to experience a poor quality of life where their civil liberties were impacted on due to the configuration of their living spaces,” it said. In one residential unit, the premises were “visibly dirty”.

According to the report: “Inspectors observed dried brown staining on the side of a mattress, the wall and skirting board in a resident’s bedroom which inspectors were informed was most probably vomit.”

Resident preferences for the administering of medication was not properly documented, so “unfamiliar staff engaged in medication administration... could be presented with residents refusing their medication due to this lack of information”.

According to the report: “Inspectors observed residents spending long periods of time unoccupied sitting on the floor, pacing around living rooms and corridors or looking through the window of the locked door that led to their living space in one residential unit. Inspectors observed staff speak to residents in this area of the residential unit only once in the space of a two-hour period.”

Twenty inspections were published by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) yesterday, with many centres found to be operating very well but highlighting concerns in others.

At a Cheshire Foundation facility in Donegal, Hiqa found “an allegation of intimidation of a resident by a staff member had been made and there was no evidence the allegation had been investigated”.

The allegation of psychological abuse had also not been reported to Hiqa and details of a preliminary investigation did not assure the inspector that the allegation had been identified and responded to in a timely manner. Inspectors noted some good practice at the centre but also noted comments in questionnaires that included “sometimes the staff are crabbit with me”, “most of the staff treat me good but one or two don’t”.

An inspection of a designated centre for people with disabilities operated by Ability West in Galway found “it was evident the residents were not happy living in the same centre” and that the provider had not put adequate arrangements in place to safeguard residents, with “a significant number of peer-to-peer assaults in the centre”.

At a designated centre for people with disabilities operated by The Cheshire Foundation in Ireland in Galway, inspectors found issues over the control of infection and over how complaints from residents were dealt with, although Hiqa said improvements had been made at the centre.

At another Cheshire Centre, in Dublin 20, inspectors found “a separatist approach” between staff and residents, a lack of staff training, and that a recent trial fire evacuation took 35 minutes.

www.hiqa.ie