Disability care home charged resident €4,000 for holiday to Donegal

A charity running residential care homes for people with disabilities charged one resident €4,000 to take a five-day trip to Co Donegal, a recent inspection found.

The State’s healthcare watchdog criticised the practice of the disability care provider, Cheshire Foundation in Ireland, making residents cover the cost of staff accompanying them on trips or holidays, including paying their wages, if they needed assistance.

In one case a resident had to pay €4,000 for a trip to Co Donegal, with this figure largely made up from covering €3,115 in “staff costs”.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) said this resulted in a “financial burden” being put on residents “to enjoy a short break in Ireland”.

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Hiqa inspectors said the disability provider’s policy was that residents were responsible for “the majority” of staff costs, if they required assistance on their trip.

“These costs included staff wages, including PRSI and pension contributions, staff travel insurance, transport costs, staff meals and accommodation,” the inspection report said.

The Cheshire Foundation, a registered charity nearly entirely funded by the Health Service Executive, cares for more than 100 residents across 11 residential facilities. The recent inspection of its residential care home in the Phoenix Park in Dublin found that parents of residents felt the high costs were a “barrier” to residents being able to go on holiday in Ireland.

The 11-bed home provides care to adults with physical disabilities and neurological impairments, including cerebral palsy and acquired brain injuries. The report following an inspection on October 11th last, and published on Wednesday, raised concerns about the “high cost” placed on residents to take a short break.

While the cost of holidays had been discussed at staff meetings, the result had been that residents would be encouraged to take “shorter breaks” or to travel as a group to “split” the cost of the staff accompanying them, the report said.

The Hiqa inspectors said they were not assured that residents were being properly consulted about the costs, or that they had provided written consent for the arrangement.

“The inspectors saw that residents’ accounts were invoiced to cover the full costs of holidays including staff costs and that the consent of the resident to this was not documented,” the report said.

“Some family members expressed concern that their loved ones would not be able to avail of holidays if the family were unable to facilitate the holiday themselves.”

The regulator directed the disability provider to conduct a review into the “substantial” costs associated with residents taking a holiday.

On foot of the inspection, Hiqa also sought assurances that residents’ money was not being used to “cover the typical staff costs” of running the centre when they were away on a holiday.

Overall, the report found the care home was compliant across 11 of the 15 standards and regulations assessed by inspectors.

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