Residents at low support disability centre report being 'scared' 

Residents at a centre for people with an intellectual disability told inspectors they were afraid to access certain parts of their home because of a situation involving another resident.

The Winterfell centre, run by Nua Healthcare Limited in Co Dublin, supports people with mental health, intellectual disabilities, and/or acquired brain injuries. 

At the time of the inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) there were just four residents, but two of them said the presence of another person was impacting on their quality of life to the point where one said they felt scared.

According to the report, two residents said that up to recently they were very happy living in the centre. 

"But that since the beginning of the year there had been three new residents admitted to live in the centre. Two of the residents had stayed for short periods and had already been discharged. 

Another resident had recently moved into the centre in June 2020.

"The residents expressed that they were not happy with this as it was impacting on their quality of life. 

"One resident said that it was having a negative impact on their emotional wellbeing to the point that they were scared sometimes and could not move around their home freely because of it."

They told inspectors that normally a new resident would visit for a time before moving in and "one resident said that an hour was not enough time to get to know new people".

"The residents understood that some residents required more support than others but were not assured that management considered this when moving residents to this centre which the residents themselves said was a low support house. 

Both residents said that they could not access certain parts of their home due to the ongoing situation in the centre.

Hiqa found much good practice at the centre but added: "The inspector was not assured that admissions to the centre were being managed to ensure that they were safe and appropriate to all of the residents' needs in the centre."

The inspection report was one of 22 published by Hiqa with much evidence of good practice in most facilities.

However, inspectors found found areas of non-compliance in two HSE centres, including at Drumboe Respite House in Co Donegal. 

The inspector found that when respite care was being provided, residents receiving full-time care were required to move to other centres when the respite service was either closed or when children were availing of respite care in the centre.