Admissions to Cork disability centre barred after failures found

Hiqa carried out unannounced inspection at residential centre run by COPE Foundation

Inspectors have called for no further admissions to a residential centre for adults with disabilities in Co Cork after a report found a lack of compliance with health legislation.

An unannounced inspection was carried out at an unnamed designated centre for people by Hiqa with disabilities operated by COPE Foundation in Cork on March 31st and April 1st, 2015.

The centre had 36 residents on the day the inspection took place.

This was the second inspection of this centre by Hiqa or the Authority, following a previous inspection in November 2014, which found a number of serious and significant non compliances with the requirements of the Health Act 2007.

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The centre had submitted an action plan to Hiqa at that time that specified the actions that would be taken by the centre to address these non compliances.

Following the April inspection, inspectors said 35 out of the total of 39 actions from the previous inspection had not “progressed satisfactorily”.

This included:

- lack of cleanliness in certain areas

- smell of urine from a physical restraint in use for a resident

- recorded incidents of unexplained bruising with no safeguarding actions

- no records of any complaints when there were significant concerns raised in the centre and a number of unsolicited concerns provided to the Authority

-poor management systems including no staff member having a job description

- staff member using an unsuitably raised voice and inappropriate tone of voice towards a vulnerable resident

- a lack of meaningful activities

-lack of suitable healthcare provision

- serious privacy and dignity issues

- continued gaps in training in relation to safeguarding practice, adult abuse, manual

handling, complaints management, restrictive practices, and communication systems for certain residents.