Report outlines five areas of non-compliance at Southside care facility

A HIQA inspection at a local disability centre has outlined five areas of non-compliance.

Residents’ finances, fire safety and measures to protect against infection required improvements at the centre operated by Cheeverstown House CLG in Ballycullen.

The centre provides a residential service for male and female adults with an intellectual disability who may also have autism, mental health difficulties or behaviours of concern.

The objective of the service is to empower individuals with new opportunities and the necessary skills to live full and satisfying lives and to help to support them to become equal citizens of their community.

The inspection of designated centre, which consists of a two-storey house in Ballycullen, took place on Wednesday October 11, 2023.

The HIQA inspector observed that a number of staff had either not attended training in courses required by provider policy, residents’ assessed needs, or regulatory requirements, or were overdue to have completed refresher sessions in mandatory training.

This included staff who were not trained in supporting residents with epilepsy or administering their associated emergency medication.

Approximately half the team were not trained in supporting residents with autism, and two staff members were not trained to support the residents with their medicine.

Staff were also out of date in their training in fire safety procedures and safeguarding of adults at risk.

With regard to resident’s personal possessions, the inspector observed that residents did not have accounts with banks or financial institutions, and had no access to payment cards or finance records.

Resident money was managed by family members, or by an office on the service provider’s main campus open between 10am-12:30pm four days a week, from which the support team could request the use of resident’s money.

“This practice did not facilitate the resident and their direct support team to access their money as and when required,” the report says.

“There was no evidence of how records of resident finances were being reconciled.

“As such, the provider could not demonstrate how they were assured that all resident monies and savings were appropriately accounted for.”

Non-compliance was also highlighted with regard to protection against infection as surfaces in bathroom areas did not facilitate effective cleaning and sanitising, including torn or peeling wetroom flooring and seals, flaking or cracked paintwork, and holes in wall tiles.

The report also outlined non-compliance with fire precautions as the inspector was not provided assurance that the premises and the staff practices would be effective in implementing a safe response procedure in the event of a fire.

During a walk of the centre premises, the inspector observed doors along fire egress routes which were either not equipped to contain fire and smoke, where the doorclosure mechanisms did not operate correctly, or where smoke seals had been painted over.

The fire risk assessment of this premises was not provided during this inspection to provide assurance on the efficacy of fire containment.Service records for emergency lighting was also not available for review beyond 2021.

Following the inspection, the inspector issued the provider, Cheeverstown House CLG, an urgent compliance plan.

In response to this, the provider has introduced instructions to staff on using the fire panel, and scheduled dates for additional fire safety training and practice evacuations.

The provider advised that a full fire risk assessment of the premises was scheduled to identify and address any requirements for fire safety upgrades.

Overall the inspector found that the residents were safe and appropriately cared for by a committed, friendly and supportive social care team, and that residents appeared generally relaxed and happy living in the house.