An inspection of a Clare centre for disabilities has found that inadequate staffing is preventing residents from safely accessing the community and managing their anxiety.
The Health Information and Quality Authority’s unannounced inspection at the facility has found that staffing levels are insufficient to ensure the quality and safety of the service.
The unannounced HIQA inspection of the service known as Teach Rua took place on July 30th this year.
The facility run by the Rehab Group and is located a few kilometres from a busy town in Clare and can accommodate up to two residents.
Inspectors found the centre on the occasion of the inspection to be non-compliant in the areas of staff, governance and management, and individual assessment and personal plan.
A key finding was that the number of staff members on duty wasn’t appropriate to the assessed needs of residents which impacted on the quality and safety of the service.
While three staff members were required to be on-duty at any given time, the sign-in sheets showed that from July 14th to July 30th, just two were present on at least five occasions.
This, HIQA says, didn’t provide the two-to-one staff support needed by residents to safely access the community in order to support their social engagement as well as to regulate and manage anxiety.
It was identified that the centre wasn’t always adequately resourced to use the information it had gathered about its service to improve it for residents.
Inspectors also found issues with the compatibility of residents who were living together which the report says created a risk of “behaviour of concern including responsive behaviour and environmental restrictions that potentially would not be necessary if residents were not living together”.
The Rehab Group has submitted a compliance plan to HIQA outlining how the issues will be rectified.
The full report can be viewed here
