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A DISABILITY CENTRE in Kildare was closed by St John of God Services and residents were moved from two others after a series of damning inspection reports.
In a new report published today, The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) said a series of ten unplanned inspections were undertaken to assess progress in addressing concerns raised in previous visits to the St Raphael’s campus in Celbridge. In total, the centre was home to 137 people with intellectual disabilities.
These unannounced inspections found evidence of “institutional practices, poor outcomes for residents and areas of risk to residents relating to safeguarding and health and safety”.
At one centre failures were noted in ensuring the dignity of residents was respected. There was a communal bathroom that up to three residents used at once with old curtains to provide privacy.
Staffing was also found to be an issue, with high levels of absenteeism and unfilled vacancies. In one incident, a resident was found to be wearing a shoe on one foot and a sports trainer on the other. Staff had not taken the time to dress the person appropriately before they went on an outing.
Due to the seriousness of the concerns, HIQA issued a number of immediate actions, warning letters and held regulatory and escalation meetings with the service provider and members of senior management.
The oversight body issued notices of proposal to cancel the registration of three of the centres on the campus. Following this, St John of God Services said it had plans for the closure of one centre and plans to provide alternative arrangements for a number of other residents.
More recent inspections found substantive changes had been undertaken across the campus but that further improvements were needed.
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Wouldn’t “Disability Centre Shutdown” be a better headline?
Unfortunately this article seems to give the impression that the ‘odd shoe’ incident was in some way an example of the inspectors being petty. In fact, its quite serious and incidents like can be extremely upsetting for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Imagine what a child would go through if in a similar situation. Day out with people in authority other than family, afraid to speak out, embarrassed and upset. Seems a minor incident to those who can rationalize it in their minds as being just a simple oversight, a mistake. Not so in the minds of those less well able to see these incidents for what they are, be that mistakes, laziness or simple incompetence by staff.
@tommy. I’ve failed to notice I was wearing odd shoes previously. I’ve even sent my kids out without noticing items of their clothing were also mismatched, but of course, I have no idea of the impact this may have on people with intellectual disabilities. I suspect the writers of the article had no idea it could be upsetting and instead foregrounded a seemingly innocuous mistake instead of highlighting the much more serious breaches detailed later in the article.
The fact that Hiqa had to inspect this centre some eight times and still find failings and have serious concerns in relation to residents and client safety and care is damming for St.John Of Gods. Shame on them.
One might only get the impression from the above article and some of the comments that the issues weren’t that serious, a client wearing an odd shoe or bathrooms being less than ideal. The issues were far more serious than that, I wish the author had highlighted clients being put to bed at 7pm not because they were tired but because they wasn’t enough staff to do this at a more appropriate time, this in a centre where the clients had very complex needs. My sister is in a residential house run by the Mennis services of SJOG, and I can tell you that when staffing levels are low, residents present with unexplained injuries, some serious, requiring hospitalisation. When staffing levels are low, residents like my sister, who is profoundly intellectually disabled and unable to speak, have in the recent past and remain at risk of being verbally abused, threatened and physically assaulted by other residents, in my sister case, an other resident who has far greater ability, mobility and verbal skills than all the others in the house. That is what happens when SJOG fail the their duty of care . If the issues where only that someone wore odd shoes on an outing , you might just think that a particular care worker didn’t actually care . But the issue is considerably more serious that that , it would seem management failed to care , even after the initial HIQA inspections. If the issues are all stemming form critical underfunding,then yes thats an isssue for us as a society to address, and for any future Goverments to deal with. But shame on St.John Of Gods for not highlighting the issues, nd for not speaking out for those who cannot speak for themselves, Shame on them.
Answer. Only employ qualified nurses in all institutions then you have some control of the quality of staff. Yes im serious
Some of the best care staff we have encountered in our 43 years of experience with St John Of God’s services haven’t all been registered nurses, and I can give one example of a registered nurse being totally abusive towards the residents, and I believe it was other staff who complained.
Many of our issues are with management. which in our current , awful situation appear to be completely ineffective bordering on incompetency. Yes we’ve had the apologies, but unfortunately the apologies don’t always translate into meaningful solutions.
As for moving staff every three years, we’ve experienced staff being moved with little regard to the clients, we’ve also noticed in the past staff being moved who informed us of situations regarding my sister, we wondered was it punishment for having spoken to us.
Don’t for get management were informed about the issues and yet after eight visits they still hadn’t sorted the situation.
It looks like a serious staff shortage here. These residential units can be very stressful places to work in.
Einstein often wore odd socks.
Andy Dufresne escaped Shawshank wearing different shoes. Not that easy to spot.
But both shoes were the same
‘I mean, really, how often do you look at a man’s shoes?’
First impression is vital that’s why a man should polish his shoes.
Beano- it depends how long your tongue is
I am not standing up for anyone here but not one person in HIQA has a qualification in Intellectual Disabilities
HIQA actually have no standards of assessment for residential homes and disability services. They assess EVERY facility to the same standards that they do a hospital.
This might sound good in practice, but in reality its crazy. These clients are not sick. For example HIQA slated a place for not having hand washing stations in every room. This was a man that had down syndrome and he was living in his own apartment with the assistance of the disability services staff. The organisation had to spend loads installing these stations in the clients house and he hated them! What a waste of money, the man hadnt been sick in his life! Yet there is not enough money to ensure there are enough staff to give the man individual time and companionship that he really wants and makes a difference to his life.
I really hope the next government invests some money into our social services, disability services, respite and carers grants that have been so savagely cut in the past 7 years. All short term measures that have long term consequences.
Move all staff after three yrs to a new unit within the institution as a condition if employment. Sod the unions
They do this already.
I worked in care and got moved to a different bungalow after 3 years it hurt! I missed the clients, I missed their routine, their noise, their funny ways I missed understanding their particular seizures or what calms them best. i miss knowing them. The clients in the new bungalow were awesome too but they take along time to get used to a new person in their home too it can upset them their routines and even sleep &seizure patterns. Care work is hard ive been bitten,punched,spat at,scrope,ive been chased by a client with a fist full of his own poo (i said the word no) ive been strangled and ive wiped bums i didnt give birth too but i got multiple sticky stars for helping a client have a bath,i got a handmade mobile from a client for making him my nans porridge i got called catherines best friend and i got offered a mcdonalds chip by alex becuse he saw i had none even thou the boys at the other table were making fun of him.
Ive met some right twonks in care but most of us are there because we really do care.
Fusha- move up to to ballyer
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