HIQA has published inspection reports on designated centres for people with disabilities, four of them relating to centres in Donegal.
In a statement this morning, HIQA says that at the four centres based in a campus setting, inspectors identified high levels of non-compliance associated with the governance and management of the centres.
Governance at the campus had not ensured residents were protected from the risk of harm, and in some cases, neither had it ensured they received quality care and support.
Due to poor oversight arrangements at the centres, the HSE was instructed to submit a detailed improvement plan for the whole campus which is subject to ongoing monitoring and inspection by HIQA.
The four centres for which reports have been published today are Edencourt, Riverside and Cloghan, Railway View and Finnside, Dunwiley Cloghan, and Dreenan Ard Greine Court.
More at www.hiqa.ie, full reports can found on the following links –
Edencrest, Riverside & Cloghan
HSE Media Statement
Ard Greine Court provides residential services for 33 persons with mild to severe Intellectual Disability. A number of residents have other presenting conditions such Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Mental Health difficulties.
There are seven bungalow style homes and one single apartment on site which are organised into four designated centres, namely – Dunwiley & Cloghan; Edencrest, Riverside & Cloghan Flat; Railway View & Finnside; Dreenan.
All four designated centres were inspected by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) on various dates in March and April 2021 and the findings identify that improvements are required to achieve compliance with the regulations inspected across centres. The HSE has submitted detailed compliance plans to HIQA to address these issues and the improvement actions have been accepted by HIQA.
Service Improvement Programme – this programme is being implemented to address areas of non-compliances across Ard Greine Court. The specific improvement actions implemented include:
- A Person in Charge has been appointed to all designated centres and the governance of centres has been further strengthened by the appointments of Clinical Nurse Managers.
- Consistency of staffing in centres is being addressed.
- Multidisciplinary professional supports such as Speech and Language Therapy, Psychology and Social Work have been assigned to the service.
- Compatibility Assessments for residents were completed to identify those who are suited to living with one another. Where residents are incompatible, alternative appropriate accommodation is being planned to address this.
- Clinical Nurse Managers in conjunction with named nurses and relevant multi-disciplinary team members have completed a review of residents’ medical and personal plans to ensure they reflect current care and support needs based on the will and preference of the residents.
- Each named nurse and key worker, in conjunction with each resident has developed and implemented an updated meaningful daily activity schedule and meaningful goals based on each residents’ preferences and choice.
- A Human Rights Committee has been established in Donegal to support and provide oversight to the Service.
- The Ard Greine Court Quality and Patient Safety committee, supported by a Quality and Patient Safety Lead, meets on a monthly basis to review all incidents, assess the impact of these incidents on residents and develop action plans to reduce their occurrence and impact.
- Behaviour support plans are in place which provide staff with clear guidance on how to respond to incidents of self harm, aggression and violence. A Clinical Nurse Specialist for Behavior Management Support has been appointed.
- Safeguarding plans for each resident have been reviewed, updated and implemented in conjunction with the CHO1 Adult Safeguarding & Protection Team.
- Residents are supported by staff to prepare simple meals in their home if they wish to do so as an alternative to the meals provided from the central kitchen.
- A range of staff training has been implemented to ensure appropriate up skilling of staff to support a high standard of service delivery.
CHO1 Disability Services remains firmly committed to the development of a community based model of living and support for people with disabilities and will continue to work towards implementing this model though decongregation. CHO1 has completed the decongregation of 112 residents from the Cregg campus in Sligo over a number of years and has commenced decongregation in other congregated settings also, namely, Cloonamahon, Sligo, the James Connolly Memorial Unit, Carndonagh as well as Ard Greine Court. CHO1 Disability Services are working closely with the HSE Estates, Property Management and Human Resource departments to progress the developments required.
COVID-19 has brought challenges to services in the past 19 months with many community activities and day services unavailable to residents in the same way. In addition residents were unable to have the same level and type of contact with family and friends. Staffing was affected by COVID related absences. Ard Greine Court has had COVID contingency plans in place throughout the pandemic and will continue to implement these as needed. However the easing of restrictions in the wider community including visiting restrictions in residential care facilities will mean that residents can return to a more normal way of life.
Head of Service for CHO1 Disability Services, Edel Quinn, stated “The safeguarding of residents is our number one priority. The HSE will continue to work to ensure that robust governance, quality and safety arrangements are in place and that these systems are working effectively to ensure that person centred, safe, high quality services are provided to all residents at all times. CHO1 will continue to advocate for the further development of services for people with disabilities ensuring that accommodation and supports that best meets residents’ needs are in place “
