Disability centre in Cork not resourced to meet residents’ needs, Hiqa reports

A disability centre in Cork city was “not resourced to meet residents’ needs”, an inspection by the health and safety watchdog has found.

On Thursday, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) published 22 inspection reports on disability services in Ireland.

Of those, six were observed as having good levels of compliance with regulations, while in 16 poor levels of compliance with the regulations and standards were found.

At a facility operated by Cope Foundation called Cork City North 5, an unannounced inspection in October found that residents largely enjoyed their home and there was generally a calm atmosphere. However, one of the residents was “vocalising repeatedly” for 20 continuous minutes.

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“These vocalisations could be heard from the other side of the unit even though a radio was turned on in a different room. Staff stayed with the resident for some of this time but at one point the staff member present left to assist in preparing meals. When the staff member left, the resident became more vocal and appeared distressed saying ‘I can’t take it,’” the inspection report said.

“None of the other four residents who were present in the sittingroom with the vocalising resident during the 20-minute period appeared to react to the noise although one resident was assisted to leave the sittingroom by some visitors during this period.”

The report said a staff member said the vocalising resident could “present in this way often” and complaints had been logged from other residents.

Staffing was frequently at minimum standards, but even when that level was reached “staff spoken with during this inspection highlighted the challenges in supporting the needs of residents”.

“For example, one staff member discussed how with the current staffing levels, residents’ basic needs were met but that staff were not able to spend quality time with residents,” the report said.

The inspector said: “The information provided during this inspection indicated that there was not sufficient staffing resources for the centre to meet the needs of residents. This also impacted the governance of the centre.”

Elsewhere, poor governance was identified in six centres operated by Brothers of Charity Services Ireland CLG, which had an impact on residents’ rights and development. Improvements were required in premises, fire safety and managing risks, the inspector found.

Inspectors identified instances of poor governance at three centres operated by Ability West. The use of restrictive practices adversely affected residents. In addition to this, improvements were needed in areas such as the management of fire safety and risks.

Hiqa has previously flagged governance issues with Ability West’s centres, having deregistered one facility – Macotar Lodge – and issuing three notices of proposal to cancel the registration of a further three.

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