Disability care standard must have legal teeth

ONE of the lessons following the Ryan report on child abuse must be that we act immediately to put on a statutory footing the national quality standards recently developed for residential services for people with disabilities. This is one of the practical steps we can take now.

We must ensure people with disabilities in residential care do not see history repeating itself and are afforded the necessary protections and appropriate care environment.

A vital element of this is to ensure the standards are put on a statutory footing and the essential funding is provided for their monitoring and inspection.