The health and safety watchdog has shared “significant” concerns with Tusla about risks to the welfare and development of children living in a disability centre in Co Offaly.
Cedar Lodge, run by Lotus Care Limited, provides care for up to four children with a range of disabilities, including intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder.
In October, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) conducted a risk-based inspection of the premises, which was registered in July, after receiving some “information of concern”.
Immediately after the inspection, Hiqa presented its provisional findings to Tusla, the child and family agency.
READ MORE
According to the inspection report, published on Thursday, Hiqa said the governance and management systems were “ineffective” in ensuring the service was safe, appropriate and consistent.
The provision of food and nutrition was a “significant concern” for inspectors.
Food records for each child generally showed their intake was not wholesome or nutritious and there was a significant over-reliance on frozen food, such as chicken nuggets and chips.
“There were a number of food items in the refrigerator including milk, yogurts and ham that were all past their use-by date,” the report said.
“The pancakes that were served for the breakfast on the morning of the inspection were also found to be past their best-before date.”
The inspectors said the consumption of expired dairy and meat “presents a potential food-safety risk, particularly for children”.
“It also raised concerns regarding the oversight of food-safety management practices,” the report said.
“Inspectors found that the storage of certain food items including sweet breads, waffles and pancakes were unhygienic and there was also an unknown item of food still in the air fryer.”
At the time of the inspection, there was an active outbreak of head lice in the centre but it was “unclear” for how long. There was evidence one child had head lice in August.
The inspectors were critical of hygiene standards, with shared combs and a hair scrunchie placed next to each other in a communal bathroom. This risked the spread of infection.
The inspectors also found “unsuitable and ineffective” systems of governance and management in the centre.
“Responsibilities and reporting relationships including matters pertaining to basic care were unclear. There was a lack of evident accountability for the safety of the service provided to children,” it added.
Furthermore, Hiqa said it was “concerned” that two staff members did not have a “comprehensive command of the English language”.
“There were two children that were pre-verbal residing in the centre and inspectors asked management how staff implemented these children’s care plans pertaining to communication if they were not proficient in English themselves,” it said.
Hiqa said staffing levels were not conducive to the size or layout of the centre and the staff-to-resident ratio did “not contribute to a homely environment”.
“Based on the findings of this inspection, the training and supervision provided to staff was inadequate as demonstrated by poor practice in the centre,” it added.
In response to the inspection, the provider outlined a number of ways in which it would become compliant with regulations, including improving governance and increasing training for staff. It said “immediate corrective actions” were taken to address lapses in food safety.
