Care facility staff to be disciplined after disabled teen abandoned on swim trip

Two staff at one of the country’s largest organisations providing services for people with disabilities are facing disciplinary action over what an official report has described as the “abandonment” of a young man while on an outing.

The 19-year-old was found by gardaí walking along a grass verge in the middle of a dual carriageway after being left behind while on a trip to a swimming pool in west Dublin organised by Stewarts Care last April .

A report into the incident, seen by The Irish Times, says the young man “could have been killed or seriously injured”.

“The abandonment of a service user is a very serious abuse incident”, the report states.

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There was no fault with the operating policies of Stewarts Care, the investigation found. They were more than adequate to ensure such an incident should not happen.

However, it says “locally developed practices and neglectful performance of duties resulted in the abandonment of the service user”.

The investigating team was satisfied that the abandonment of the young man while on the swimming trip could have been prevented.

Late changes

Among the factors that contributed to him being left behind were the practice of making late changes to those scheduled to travel on buses, vehicles not travelling together, insufficient communication between staff and inadequate searches for the young man concerned, the report said.

Last night Stewarts Care said its board and senior management accepted and took full responsibility “for the findings of the independently conducted investigation into the events of April 2 last”.

“As a service provider, Stewarts acknowledges fully the obligation to care that it has to service users and their families. It recognises also that care cannot be assured unless strong policies are in place backed by good practice throughout its operations. There is no acceptable excuse for not having those assurances.”

“The report of that investigation is a private document specific to the parties directly involved and Stewarts cannot comment further until due process arising from its findings has been completed with a full right of access for all concerned,” it said.