Residents at disability centre subjected to physical and verbal abuse

The health watchdog was forced to visit a disability centre in Dublin after it received over 20 reports of physical, psychological and verbal abuse in less than a month, according to a report.

Management at the Ashington Group home in Dublin 7 expressed relief at the intervention of staff from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) during an unannounced visit in November because they were "concerned about the situation for both residents and staff members".

An inspection report released on Wednesday said the visit was “triggered” due to the volume and severity of abuse allegations being received from the small care home.

Despite accommodating just ten adult female residents, Hiqa received 21 abuse notifications from the Daughters of Charity-run centre between 7th October and 2nd November last, many of which occurred in the early hours of the morning.

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Hiqa initially sought and received assurances from centre management over the safeguarding of residents following an initial slew of allegations. However, this was soon followed by further notifications of a similar nature and an on-site inspection was eventually ordered.

Inspectors recounted one conversation with a resident who had experienced a number of abusive incidents which caused her to worry “about the future situation in her home”.

Family members and representatives of residents also expressed concerns about safety standards, and Hiqa staff concluded that “there were insufficient measures in place in the centre to protect some residents from being harmed or suffering abuse”.

This was largely down to “management systems in place in the centre” which “did not ensure the delivery of safe and quality services for residents”, it was added.

No one person had overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the centre despite there being a defined management structure in place, and inspectors found that there was “a lack of clarity with regard to who was in charge”.

The report further noted an over-reliance on external agency staff who were unfamiliar with the residents and their needs, including one shift worker providing cover on the day of the inspection who had never been in the centre before.

Training gaps were also indentified including deficiencies in the areas of fire safety, first aid and manual handling, and not all staff members were trained to administer the Heimlich manoeuvre in the event of a choking incident despite it being a stated requirement.

Responding to the findings, management for the centre informed Hiqa that extra staff are now in place for both day and night-time supervision duties and additional training on safeguarding residents has been provided.

The Daughters of Charity facility in Dublin was one of six in which major non-compliances were identified following recent inspections by Hiqa, along with a Rehab care centre in Kilkenny.