An inspection of a Dublin facility for chronically-ill young people found unexplained sums of money missing from the accounts of some residents.
The facility, located on the campus of Cherry Orchard Hospital, was found to have been in breach of 10 separate Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) guidelines. It was found to be non-compliant against all 15 outcomes it was inspected against.
An inspector found that insufficient financial safeguards were in place and there was confusion as to who was safeguarding the residents’ money.
In one inspection, sums of €41.30, €127.50 and €41.30 were missing from the accounts of three residents and no explanation was forthcoming as to the reason why.
It found that some residents did not have access to their own finances as these were managed through the campus manager’s office.
The centre has capacity for 32 residents, of whom 28 were in situ when the inspector called in November last year.
It was found that staff could enter the rooms of residents without knocking or ringing the door bell, access to the outside world was limited and few residents had personal plans to participate in meaningful activities.
Many residents did not know the time when their dinner would be ready until it came out of the kitchen.
The Cherry Orchard Hospital facility was also found to be unclean in areas and poorly maintained. There were dried food stains and fluid blemishes within the dining room. One inspector struggled to lift up the table cloth because of debris stuck underneath it.
Six members of staff who were interviewed did not have sufficient knowledge as to how to protect residents from physical and mental abuse. One said they would look it up on the internet if necessary.
The Health Service Executive’s care team in the centre is now required to attend a regulatory meeting with Hiqa and present an improvement plan.
A spokeswoman for the authority added: “Hiqa will monitor this centre closely to verify whether the provider’s improvement plan is effective in improving the safety and quality of life for residents in this centre.”
Meanwhile, in another unannounced inspection, a residential centre for adults with intellectual disabilities in Sligo was found to be non-compliant in four out of five areas.
Stranbeg near Rosses Point, also run by the HSE, was inspected following a tip-off from a concerned member of the public that there was insufficient safeguards in place to protect residents from abuse.
Concerns were also expressed about “de-escalation techniques” used for residents with challenging behaviour, such as physical and chemical restraints.
Inspectors found the provider had adequate arrangements to safeguard residents from abuse. But there was a “continued failure” to inform the chief inspector of the facility of potential incidences of abuse within the three-day timeframe. It also found there were more beds than the centre was registered for.
In its latest published reports, Hiqa inspected 13 HSE premises of which six were in the northwest of the country.
Registration inspections of three centres uncovered non-compliance in the area of the workforce. In all three centres, the provider failed to provide evidence that they had obtained Garda vetting for all staff to ensure their suitability for working with residents.
In two further centres, residents were not afforded adequate private space in shared bedrooms.
Of the seven reports concerning the rest of the country, four centres were found to be fully compliant with the regulations.
