Many children had no social workers and Tusla couldn't fill jobs — Hiqa

Inspections by Hiqa found that children experienced multiple changes in social workers over short periods of time, and continued to experience delays in accessing the service or a care placement that was appropriate to their needs. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

Many children did not have an allocated social worker while vacancies persisted in many Tusla services, a report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has found.

The health watchdog conducted 56 inspections throughout 2021 and found that while there were improvements in compliance against national standards and regulations across children’s services, there was further room for improvement in governance and management and resourcing services.