Vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities felt unsafe in group care homes run by a Co Wicklow organisation where the State’s healthcare watchdog warned some practices could amount to “institutional abuse”.
Sunbeam House Services, which runs 27 residential homes for people with disabilities, on behalf of the Health Service Executive (HSE), is the subject of a scathing report by healthcare inspectors.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found multiple cases where residents were left in harm’s way or at increased risk of abuse, despite warnings, causing serious psychological distress.
The highly critical Hiqa report, published on Tuesday, said Sunbeam House was not doing enough to keep residents safe from abuse in its care homes.
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The findings were based on inspections of all care homes run by Sunbeam House, undertaken over several months last year.
Inspectors uncovered concerning practices in many of the facilities, which Hiqa felt in some cases could amount to “institutional abuse”.
In one care home the flush button had been removed from a toilet to stop a resident from flushing the toilet after using it.
Residents in eight of the care homes run by Sunbeam House told Hiqa inspectors they did not feel safe in the facilities, often as a result of aggressive or upsetting behaviour from other residents.
The report criticised the lack of action taken to prevent the “reoccurrence of abuse” in one Sunbeam House home, by a resident who had been causing harm for “several years”. A previous plan to move the resident to a “more suitable location” had been abandoned, it said.
In another group home a resident was only allowed to go for a walk on their own “for a very short time” and given a “very limited amount of their own money” to spend, the report said.
Hiqa inspectors found there was “no rationale” for these restrictions, which the watchdog felt could be viewed as “institutional abuse”.
Staff had reported concerns to senior management about one person harming themselves, but despite this a plan to address the behaviour had not been put in place.
“Inspectors were informed that the resident had been hospitalised the night before the inspection due to a prolonged period of self-harm. The provider was failing to ensure residents’ safety and management of known risks,” the report said.
Another resident, who was judged to be at risk of attempting suicide and posed a danger to others in the home, had not received extra support as recommended.
A resident living in an “unsuitable” home had been seriously injuring themselves, to the extent they required hospital treatment.
The report said Sunbeam House was aware of problems with the facility as far back as 2022, but had not taken action to make it safer for those living there.
In one instance inspectors found a recommendation on file that a resident’s room should be painted to help with their sensory needs.
The recommendation had been made by a healthcare professional in 2019, but by the middle of 2024 the room had still not been painted.
The organisation’s huge reliance on temporary agency staff to run care homes was concerning, the Hiqa report said.
The constant turnover of staff was difficult for residents, some of whom expressed concerns about unfamiliar “strangers” covering night shifts.
A shortage of staff in one residential centre had led to increased incidents of incontinence and the “inadequate” supervision for residents at high risk of falls, the report said.
In another Sunbeam House facility, staff regularly entered residents’ bedrooms while they slept to carry out checks at night. Inspectors ascertained there was no clear rationale for these checks, other than that they were a “historical practice”.
Concerns about governance and standards of care in Sunbeam House have been flagged on several occasions over the last decade, including in a previous investigation by The Irish Times.
About 100 people with intellectual disabilities are living in State-funded group homes run by Sunbeam House, across Co Wicklow and south Dublin.
Hiqa has threatened to close six of the disability provider’s care homes since 2022, with one of the facilities having been taken over by the HSE.
