Minister seeks independent review of HSE disability services in North-West

Disability Minister Anne Rabbitte has said she is seeking an independent review into services provided by the Health Service Executive in the North-West region. Picture: Julien Behal Photography/PA

Disability Minister Anne Rabbitte has said she is seeking an independent review into services provided by the Health Service Executive in the North-West region.

She said there was a pattern of failure to protect residents with disabilities in Community Healthcare Organisation One (CHO1) in the region.

It comes after the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) raised concerns about a resident with intellectual disabilities who was found to be viewing online images of child sex abuse.

The health watchdog raised serious concerns about the management of the HSE services and said Hiqa inspectors were not provided with assurances that the incident was appropriately managed.

We are taking it very seriously. I was really shocked with the contents of the letter from Hiqa."

Hiqa also said in a letter that the resident had been found to be viewing online images in 2016 and 2017, but the HSE did not pass on this information.

It comes months after the publication of the Brandon Report, which was highly critical of the handling allegations of sexual abuse at an HSE disability centre in Donegal.

The report found adults with learning disabilities were subjected to sustained sexual abuse by another resident at the HSE-run facility.

Ms Rabbitte said she became aware of the latest incident before Christmas through a letter raising “very serious concerns” about safeguarding issues in CHO1 in the North-West region.

“We are taking it very seriously,” the junior minister told RTÉ's Morning Ireland. “I was really shocked with the contents of the letter from Hiqa.

“To me, what’s concerning is that there appears to be a pattern emerging and it’s a safeguarding issue for the residents in the CHO1 North-West.

“Where we have repeated incidents and the development of a pattern, one has to question the staff’s understanding and management’s understanding about the roles and responsibilities around safeguarding.

“And how to work with the various agencies, be it Tusla, An Garda Síochána, and Hiqa itself, that they feel comfortable enough to be able to talk to an outside body to look for support if they aren’t able find the support within their own organisation.”

There's a worrying trend here in CHO1 North-West that we need to get under the bonnet on it."

She said she spoke to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly about the matter and is seeking to draw up “terms of reference” for an independent review on CHO1 North-West.

“We need to ensure that we have safeguarding first and foremost, and we also need to reassure the families.

“So we need to actually deal with what is here at the moment and understand the pattern and, if there’s faults or failings there, we need to support the HSE to address it and move on.

“I am working with the department in rolling up terms of reference. I would like there to be an independent review to discuss the relationship piece.”

She added: “I would like to think that we need to deal with this continuous pattern.

“There’s a pattern going on here since 2003.”