The Health Service Executive’s fitness as a registered provider of centres for people with disabilities has been questioned by the Health Information and Quality Authority.
Renewed concern was expressed by HIQA to the HSE’s management of its services in the Northwest area, two months following the publication of the Brandon Report.
In correspondence from HIQA to the HSE seen by RTÉ News, the online behaviour of a resident described as “very serious” leads the independent watchdog to question the HSE’s fitness to provide services, to people with disabilities in the area known as Community Healthcare Organisation One.
In two letters from HIQA to the HSE, senior staff at the independent watchdog question the HSE’s fitness to provide services to people with disabilities in the area.
One letter notes, “a very serious incident” regarding the online behaviour of a resident at one centre, which RTÉ News understands relates to a resident viewing material of child sexual exploitation online.
The regulator says it was not informed when this occurred in 2016, 2017 or in July 2021. It received notification of the most recent incident in October last year, three months beyond the legal requirement for notification.
The outgoing HIQA CEO, Phelim Quinn, told HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid that he was “seriously concerned” about the effectiveness of the surveillance, identification and management of adult and child safeguarding concerns in the area.
He told Mr Reid that HIQA was not assured that the HSE was ensuring safe quality care for people in receipt of care in the area and the HSE needed to provide assurance that actions were being taken.
In a statement, the HSE said it was important to state that HIQA informed it there were no current safeguarding concerns arising from their unannounced inspections completed in January, across all Disability designated centres in the region.
It said the correspondence acknowledged a shared concern for HIQA and the HSE regarding governance and safeguarding, including assessment of the need for and type of enhanced national oversight external to CHO1.
“This is building on significant improvement initiatives already taking place where HIQA also acknowledged progress in that same correspondence to the HSE.”
It said immediate actions took place between national HSE and the Community Healthcare Organisation in the area to provide assurance, as requested by HIQA, on any immediate safeguarding concerns.
It also said it is constructing a wider governance review of Disability services which will build on the improvement work to date to continue to address HSE’s own concerns and further informed by the most recent findings from the Regulator.
