Known abuser lived at home for 18 months before safeguarding plan was produced

The HSE and a private nursing home in Co Donegal did not produce a safeguarding plan for almost 50 vulnerable residents until 18 months after "Brandon" – a man with an intellectual disability known for perpetrating sexual abuse – was placed there.

The man, who is now dead, was given the pseudonym in an unpublished investigation into the HSE's management of his behaviours. He was moved from the HSE-run Ard Gréine Court complex in Stranorlar to Brentwood Manor, a 48-bed nursing home in Convoy, in May 2016.

Brentwood Manor specialises in care for people with dementia, cognitive disabilities and brain injuries, and is managed by the Brindley Healthcare group.

The National Independent Review Panel report found Brandon had perpetrated 108 incidents of sexual abuse on upwards of 18 intellectually disabled residents, many non-verbal, at Ard Gréine Court between 2003 and 2016.

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These included molestation, entering residents’ beds at night, exposing himself, prolonged and loud masturbation close to residents and possibly rape.

Minutes from a multidisciplinary discharge meeting to discuss Brandon’s move, dated May 5th, 2016 and seen by The Irish Times, note that he could not be moved to other houses in Ard Gréine Court “as there are other individuals within each of those houses that have been abused by Brandon in the past also”.

Brandon, then in his 70s, qualified for the Fair Deal scheme, and Brentwood Manor, which had recently opened a four-bed acquired brain injury unit, was “ideally suited to cater for [his] care needs”.

Brandon is described as “non-ambulant” in the minutes and a staff nurse is recorded as saying, “management within Brentwood were made aware of all Brandon’s behavioural management issues, ie sexual, physical and verbal abuse on the 4/4/2016”.

Grounds for concern

According to the HSE’s 2014 policy, Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults at Risk of Abuse, a safeguarding plan “must” be developed by the service manager where “reasonable grounds for concern exist”. In Brandon’s case this would have involved management at Ard Gréine Court and Brentwood Manor.

Nine regional HSE safeguarding and protection teams (SPT) were established in 2016, and safeguarding plans for vulnerable adults must be submitted to them.

The report finds, however, that it was not until a whistleblower approached Thomas Pringle TD in October 2016 with their concerns about Brandon that the SPT sought a safeguarding plan for the Brentwood Manor residents.

“The SPT requested a formal safeguarding plan for Brandon from the [local HSE] on eight separate occasions through 2017,” says the report.

“The SPT also contacted the nursing home directly to request a safeguarding plan … A formal safeguarding plan was eventually received from Brandon’s new residential facility by the SPT on November 17th, 2017, some 18 months after Brandon had moved to the facility and 11 months after the SPT had been informed.”

‘Substantially compliant’

Brentwood Manor was inspected by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) in each of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and last year, and found to be compliant or substantially compliant with all regulations. Its 2017 report notes the home “is organised into four self-contained units that each accommodate 12 residents.

“The inspectors found procedures and policies were in place to protect residents from harm and abuse. Staff interviewed were aware of the need to be alert to signs of abuse and to report any concerns.”

A spokeswoman said the HSE would not comment on an individual case. Neither Brentwood Manor nor Brindley Healthcare responded to contact attempts.

A Hiqa spokesman said: “While the ... report may have required certain actions of the HSE and the provider, no safeguarding concerns were found on these inspections as evidenced in the inspection reports.”