Intellectually disabled resident at HSE centre living with peers they could not converse with

An intellectually disabled resident at a HSE-run centre in Co Donegal, that has been the subject of ongoing welfare concerns, was still living with peers they could not converse with despite the compatibility issue being identified eight months previously.

The resident at Ard Gréine Court in Stranorlar, the same campus where a now-deceased resident was found to have perpetrated up to 108 acts of sexual abuse on upwards of 18 residents, told inspectors they “would like to move out”.

They were the only one of five residents at the Dreenan bungalow who could communicate verbally, inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found during an unannounced inspection on February 28th and March 1st.

“[They] expressed that they would like to move out of Dreenan and said that they would like to live with other residents with whom they could talk. They said to the inspector that they liked to talk to others, and added that they could not talk to any of their peers in Dreenan due to their communication needs.”

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Though management had “identified that this resident would benefit from living with a more compatible peer group” in June 2021 “progress on this was slow, and the resident appeared to be unaware of what, if any, plans there were in place to support with this”.

The Ard Gréine campus is one of two HSE-run disability centres in Co Donegal where Hiqa has had ongoing, serious concerns about governance, safeguarding and management. Last year a report by the National Independent Review Panel found a former resident, given the pseudonym “Brandon”, had “relentlessly” pursued vulnerable peers between 2003 and 2016, with the “full knowledge” of management.

Concerns

The Brandon report is one of several expressing concerns about the HSE’s management of centres in the county. In April, Hiqa said there was a “heavy reliance” on individual people in charge of the centres “without sufficient accountability”. This “significantly increased the risk of safeguarding or other issues arising and not being identified and responded to in a timely manner”.

Ard Gréine Court is now separated into four separate “centres” — Dreenan, Railway View, Edencrest & Cloghan Flat, and, Riverside, for the purposes of Hiqa inspections.

In largely positive reports published on Wednesday Hiqa found, in general, residents were happy, safe and supported by staff. Additional ‘layers’ of management had been put in place, with new clinical nurse managers.

However continuity of care was not guaranteed due to need for additional and agency staff.

In Edencrest & Cloghan, home to five people and inspected on March 9th, “not all staff had received up-to-date training in … required areas such as fire safety, positive behaviour management, sexuality awareness in supported settings, communication and infection control”.

Though management had undertaken to Hiqa that an annual review would be completed, it “did not include evidence of consultation with either residents or their representatives on the care and support received at the centre”.

In Riverside, home to five people and inspected on March 9th and 10th, “there were improvements in governance and management”.

“However, further improvements were required … in a number of areas including: access to communication assessments, staffing, staff training, updating care plans, risk management, aspects relating to the internal premises and documentation of residents’ activities in line with the centre’s procedures.”