Residents of care centre were wrongly billed – Hiqa

RESIDENTS of a centre for people with an intellectual disability were wrongly billed for the cost of specialised chairs, fire-proofed curtains and a medical aid worth €2,000, an inspectors’ report has revealed.

The money was taken from the personal accounts of the residents at the St John of God-run centre in Beaufort, Killarney, Co Kerry, despite the HSE funding the organisation to the tune of around €138m this year to deliver services across the country.

St John of God has been at the centre of controversy over secret payments of over €6.2m which were made to its senior staff in recent years.

The Killarney inspection report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), which followed a visit in January, revealed that over the course of three years some of the residents were also having to pay for furniture, medical aids and medical appointments which were expected to be provided by St John of God or by accessing public health services.

“These irregularities had already come to the provider’s attention prior to this inspection. The provider was in the process of carrying out an internal audit to determine the extent of the inappropriate charges,” said the report.“Inspectors were informed the residents would be refunded.”

The centre should be part of a national review, which was to be carried out by St John of God into how residents’ finances were managed, the Hiqa inspectors added.

A separate inspection report of the St Christopher Services Company in Longford found a resident had to pay for equipment costing over €600.

The centre, which received over €8m in funding, did not keep a receipt of evidence of purchase.

One resident’s account had more than one assigned person who could access it and this posed a risk for financial mismanagement, contrary to the organisation’s policies and procedures.

“For example, in some instances residents’ accounts were access by their families, staff from the centre and also from the residents’ day services,” it said. Oversight There was no oversight from any one appointed person to ensure the money lodged or withdrawn was sanctioned by the resident or their representative.

Residents were also not supported to avail of financial refunds for treatments they received while using health insurance.

The Hiqa inspectors demanded that the provider carry out a full and thorough audit of residents’ finances, which would include reviewing copies of financial statements.

“This was carried out the week after the inspection.”

While there was no evidence of abuse, there were significant flaws in how the residents’ finances were managed, which could pose a “risk of financial abuse or misappropriation”.