Residential centres for disabled may be inspected

Residential centres for people with disabilities may soon be subject to inspection.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published a set of draft standards for the industry.

All centres providing residential services will have to be registered and will be inspected to ensure they meet the criteria set by HIQA.

The Authority's Dr. Marion Witton says there are currently around 10,000 people living in centres for disabled people around the country.

"I think one of the most important things is to know what you can expect. So now we have a set of standards where everybody throughout Ireland can know what to expect and then they can be confident that their relatives or people who are using the services can get the services they deserve," she said.