AN INVESTIGATION into a centre for people with severe to profound intellectual disabilities has found that the rights of residents have been infringed through lack of access to crucial services.
The 340-page report by the Irish Human Rights Commission, to be published today, is understood to contain sweeping recommendations aimed at improving care standards and accountability for thousands of people in residential care nationally.
At present residential centres for more than 8,000 adults and 400 children with disabilities in State-funded care are uninspected and unregulated by the State.
There have been long-standing concerns over care standards and access to basic therapies at the John Paul Centre in Ballybane, Galway.
They were first raised by parents of children with intellectual disabilities who feared they were developing challenging behaviour due to lack of access to therapeutic interventions.
In response, the commission began an investigation in 2005 into the quality of life for the 70 residents and day-service users at the centre, which is operated by the Brothers of Charity.
Sources familiar with the report say a total of 11 conclusions point to issues such as:
- Inadequate and overcrowded accommodation;
- Insufficient staff to meet residents' needs;
- Lack of vital multidisciplinary care, such as speech and language therapy
- Underfunding of services based on imprecise data on residents' needs.
The commission presented the findings to the HSE and the Brothers of Charity yesterday, but declined to comment on the report until its publication today.
The report is understood to contain more than 50 recommendations aimed at the Department of Health, the HSE and the Brothers of Charity.
It urges the department and the HSE to ensure more detailed servicelevel agreements are drawn up which set out the type of services that should be provided to residents.
In addition, it states that these agreements should be made available to members of the public. On a legislative basis, it calls on the Government to ratify the UN convention on rights for people with disabilities and to fully enact existing legislation which would provide a right to a needs assessment for those with special needs.
The report also calls for more frequent reviews of care for people with disabilities in residential care.
At the John Paul Centre, for example, just two reviews were carried out by health authorities over the course of 18 years.
The way in which funding is provided to disability services is also a major focus of the report. A person-centred approach, which focuses on the specific needs of individuals, should be introduced rather than the current regime which is based on a national database on intellectual disability.
The HSE commissioned its own internal review into care at the John Paul Centre in 2007. It concluded that care being provided by staff was, overall, of a high standard. It raised concerns over standards of accommodation and certain care practices which, it said, required review.