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HEALTHCARE WATCHDOG HIQA is to begin inspecting residential centres for people with disabilities, where an estimated 9,500 people are currently living.
It is the first time that these residential centres will be subject to independent scrutiny by a regulator, HIQA said.
There are around 1,200 centres around the country, the vast majority of which are run by voluntary or religious groups with funding from the State. The new guidelines apply to all residential services, whether they’re run by public, private or voluntary bodies.
HIQA – the Health Information and Quality Authority – today published its long-awaited national standards for residential services for children and adults with disabilities, which explicitly lays down guidelines for providers to ensure proper care is given to people living in or using the services.
Phelim Quinn, the head of regulation at HIQA, said the publication of the new guidelines was a “landmark moment for disability services in Ireland”.
From now on, these Standards will provide those who use services and their families or representatives with a guide as to what they should expect from residential services.
Children and adults using residential services have the right to be safe, to receive good care and support and to have access to the services they need to enable them to live a fulfilling life.
HIQA will begin the registration and inspection of residential centres later this year.
The new standards and plans for inspections have been welcomed by groups involved in providing care to people with disabilities.
(Video: hiaqvideo/YouTube)
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It’s pretty bad alright. I’ve been in monsoon rains in Asia, and it was nothing compared to the rain I experienced on the NSW south coast today. I’ve used the phrase “bucketing down” all my life, but today was the first time I’ve used it accurately without exaggeration. It was like thousands of buckets of water were just being poured from the sky, relentlessly for about an hour. Then it just went back to heavy rain. Then it bucketed again for another hour or so, and when it did, you literally couldn’t see a meter outside your window.
Due to get worse tomorrow and then reduce to heavy rain for the next 10 days or so. But with everything else that’s happening in the world, I count my chickens that we are in a safely high area, and not a flood plane or a war zone.
@Jonathan Nolan: As you know its come down from Brisbane .. and you’re right, never seen rain like it. 250mm each day for 3 days solid. Some places had over a metre in that time. Had we had one more day I’d be cleaning out my own flooded house right now.
@Pablo: take care Pablo. Let’s hope it calms down or goes off the coast or something. It’s pretty ridiculous the amount of water coming down stay safe
@Jonathan Nolan: Take care, Jonathan. Melbourne is unusually humid but dry for now. Time to get a federal government that takes climate change seriously, that spends our taxes where it is needed, rather than on their mate.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype AKA PRGuy: your not wrong.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype AKA PRGuy: yeah it’s been lovely in Melbourne the last few weeks. The rain up there looks crazy. I heard that in one hour somewhere in Queensland they had more than Melbourne’s entire annual rainfall!
Hope you stay safe and dry there and can help others out. A metre of rain sounds destructive, especially on baked-dry land.
have your say