During a series of unannounced inspections of Saint Anne's Centre near Roscrea – the health watchdog found evidence to support claims of staff shouting at residents and using inappropriate language.
They also found evidence to support allegations that there was a failing to respect the resident's dignity and body integrity when assisting with intimate care needs.
The Health Information and Quality Authority carried out a total of five inspections at Sean Ross Abbey on dates in December and January on foot of complaints made in December from a staff member about care practices at the centre.
The allegations centred on four inter-connecting bungalows – which catered for 32 residents but in light of the claims the remaining two bungalows were also inspected – even though they weren't at the centre of the complaints.
Overall – the January report into the Daughter of Charity run centre was found to have major non compliances in 9 of the 10 inspected.
They found the provider had failed to ensure the service was safe or appropriate to residents' needs and that there was an unacceptably high level of risk to both residents and staff due to a number of factors including an unsuitable premises, inadequate staff training, poor guidance for workers and a unsuitable mix of residents.
In the December inspection – HIQUA found evidence to support claims that staff shouted at residents and failed to respect their dignity and bodily integrity when assisting with intimate care needs.
The centre also failed to report peer on peer abuse and staff was not supported to raise concerns about the quality and safety of the care and support provided to residents.
In its last report the health watchdog however pointed out that care staff had demonstrated significant changes had been made to address many of the issues that formed the original concerns – but further improvements were required.
Tipp FM have received a statement from the Daughters of Charity in response to the reports published this afternoon:
The Daughters of Charity Disability Support Services provides residential support to people with intellectual disability in Dublin, Limerick and Roscrea. The Service has 81 designated centres across the country. 17 of these centres are already registered or recommended for registration and we are actively engaged in the registration process for a further 39.
A number of inspections took place in December and January in our Roscrea Service. It is very disappointing that some of the centres were found to be non-compliant in a number of areas. Some of these non-compliances were in relation to systems, processes, policies, insufficient training and infrastructural issues, however, a number of areas were in relation to patient safety, safeguarding and social care needs and we are particularly disappointed with the outcome in these areas. The Service is very disappointed that our systems and processes were not of a higher standard to ensure a better quality of care for all concerned.
I know that the majority of staff in St. Anne’s have the best interests of the residents at heart and go the extra mile to try to ensure a safe and satisfying environment for our residents. The Service has been subjected to significant budget cuts and a moratorium on recruiting staff over the last number of years (budget reduced by €2m or 17% and staffing reduced by 42 or 15% in period 2010 to 2015) and this has had a consequential effect on service delivery and has particularly affected our ability to provide training, sufficient activities and attend to general maintenance issues.
The Service fully supports the work of HIQA in developing standards and best practise in residential care and we have developed comprehensive action plans to address all issues raised. We are in discussions with HSE management to address key resource issues to ensure that our residential centres achieve full compliance and registration in the future.
