Care centre failed to protect autistic residents from assaults

A care centre in Galway has been criticised for failing to protect autistic residents from incidents of assault by fellow residents.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) carried out an unannounced inspection in August at the unnamed facility, which is run by Autism West Limited, and the subsequent report flagged multiple areas of major non-compliance.

It found some residents were hitting out at and upsetting others, and while inspectors were able to identify a pattern of this behaviour by reviewing incident records it was noted that the person in charge at the centre failed to identify and address the issue.

There was no formal assessment of living arrangements, and the accommodation situation for some residents living together may have been unsuitable, it was added.

The report author also voiced concern about an incident where the person in charge, who was installed in the position on a temporary basis, withdrew a “significant amount of money” from a resident’s account and gave it to a family member without the resident’s permission.

This did not adhere to the centre’s policy on safeguarding residents’ finances, according to the report, and a member of the board of management later told inspectors she was not aware this had taken place.

Overall Hiqa concluded that “management systems in place were not ensuring the service provided was safe, appropriate to residents’ needs, consistent and effectively monitored”, and this resulted in negative outcomes for the five residents.

Management have notified both Hiqa and the HSE of their intention to close the centre, which had been run by a stand-in person in charge for almost a year at the time of the visit.

The centre met prescribed standards in four of the 13 areas inspected, and was found to be substantially compliant regarding its communications and admissions policies.

In a response to Hiqa, management said measures are being implemented to prevent episodes of peer-to-peer assault, and said procedures will be followed for future transactions involving residents’ finances.

Elsewhere, a disability care centre in Mayo was found to be in major non-compliance for six of 18 standards tested against following an announced inspection by Hiqa in January.

A report by the authority mentioned allegations of financial abuse which were not documented or investigated in line with the centre’s policies.

The allegations related to the use of residents’ mobility and blind welfare allowances to pay for a vehicle for the centre, and inspectors raised concerns that residents may have overpaid for servicing and repairs for the vehicle.