Abuse reporting probed
HIQA has expressed concern over the manner in which abuse allegations by a resident in a HSE run home for people with disabilities was handled.
The criticism came following an inspection last December of the OX View Community Houses which had been issued with a notice of proposal to cancel the centre’s registration in November.
HIQA said the notice was issue following “ongoing failure by the provider to address areas of non-compliance which were impacting on the safety and quality of life for residents.”
The number of houses relating to the centre is five and is home to 21 residents. The houses are located in close proximity to local amenities such as cafes, shops, pubs and restaurants.
The HIQA report published last Thursday revealed inspectors found that residents were protected from potential abuse in four out of five houses in the centre.
However, the HSE had failed had failed to ensure residents were protected from abuse and that all concerns were appropriately investigated in line with local and national policy. During this inspection, inspectors found that there were three incidents of allegations of abuse recorded but no investigation had been completed.
There was a failure to ensure that all concerns raised were alerted to the designated officer for further review to ensure preliminary screening was commenced or completed. It was alleged management did not discuss these concerns or provide residents the opportunity to discuss these allegations. In addition, there were no records of further investigation from the date of the safeguarding concern was first recorded. Incident forms were not utilised and therefore the incident review group had not been alerted to the number of incidents to ensure a robust review of the concerns were completed.
In response the HSE stated that a review of all concerns/ incidents across the service for Quarter 4 2017 had been carried out and that as a result of this one resident was met on the December 14 th regarding accusations/allegations made on his part. Reassurance and support was offered to the resident and a full investigation was conducted in relation to the concerns raised with a satisfactory outcome for the resident, it stated.
An Investigation report/findings was submitted to the Regulator on the 15 th. A muti-disciplinary team meeting was held to support this resident on the 21st and a further review meeting has been scheduled. All incidents of alleged abuse had been identified and fully investigated in line with HSE policy validated by the management team, it stated in response. A management team meeting was held on December 13th regarding any future concerns, accusations or allegations of abuse raised by residents.
“There will be full adherence to the Safeguarding Policy, Complaints Policy and Trust in Care Policy going forward. Relevant notifications will be submitted as appropriate,” the response added.
HIQA also raised the issue of garda vetting of staff. “The inspector reviewed a sample of staff personnel files and found that they did not contain all documents required under schedule 2 of the regulations such as full employment histories and copies of garda vetting disclosures.”