Disability centre for children was reported 'immedately' to Tulsa due to safety concerns

Former director-general of the HSE and current chairman of Lotus Care Limited, Tony O'Brien. Picture: Gareth Chaney Collins

Health inspectors reported a disability centre for children, run by a provider chaired by a former HSE director-general, to Tusla due to serious concerns about safety, it has emerged.

The Cedar Lodge centre is run by Lotus Care Limited, whose chairman is Tony O’Brien. He was the HSE director general between 2013 and 2018.

There were four young children there at the time of the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) inspection in October. This was the first inspection for the new centre, which opened in July last year. 

The fridge and food storage area contained many food items past their use-by date. These posed “an immediate risk” to the children.

Inspectors saw a medication press which was “unlocked and accessible” with keys left dangling from the lock. A medicines fridge was not lockable at all.

The children’s medical records were not clear, with duplicates in place and some contradictory recommendations for dosage on different pages.

The building had restrictors on the windows for safety reasons. However, the keys were left hanging on hooks right next to the windows.

Records showed a child had used a stool to access the window, and inspectors had to ask for the keys to be removed.

There was an outbreak of head lice, and inspectors saw inadequate laundry practices and children sharing combs between them.

Concerns were also raised about restrictive practices and whether these were being recorded fully. 

Inspectors, for example, saw notes indicating staff were locking doors and blocking children from accessing the garden at times.

More broadly, they noted no advocacy service was available for the children or their families. 

One child had dietary requests for religious reasons, which did not seem to be followed.

There was a “lack of basic guidance” for staff on intimate care and how to deal with concerning behaviours.

The centre in Offaly was assessed against 15 standards, and found not compliant with 14 and substantially compliant with one.

“Due to the level of safeguarding concerns found, the chief inspector took the decision to share the provisional findings of this inspection with the Child and Family Agency [Tusla] immediately after the inspection,” the report, published yesterday, stated.

Inspectors raised questions about “unsuitable and ineffective systems of governance and management” also.

The centre has given Hiqa a compliance plan outlining what remedial actions it will take.

In all, 22 reports were published on disability centres yesterday. Hiqa's concerns about various issues of non-compliance were identified in nine centres.