The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published an inspection report on a children’s residential centre.

HIQA is authorised by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth under Section 69 of the Child Care Act, 1991 as amended by Section 26 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, to inspect children’s residential care services provided by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla). HIQA monitors Tusla’s performance against the National Standards for Children’s Residential Centres and reports on its findings to the Minister.

Inspectors found that the centre demonstrated good levels of compliance overall against the standards assessed. The support provided to children was child centred, and children reported positively on the quality of care they received and their relationships with staff. They said that staff were kind and supportive and encouraged them to express their wishes, views and preferences. They were actively involved in planning their care and in building their independence skills. The children’s families and social workers also reported positive relationships with staff and managers in the centre, and reported good and frequent communication with them.

The centre was well led. Managers were suitably experienced and there were effective management and risk escalation systems in place to ensure the safe running of the centre. Inspectors found a number of improvements in the quality of the service since its last inspection. This included refurbishment and updating of the home environment. 

Staff were knowledgeable about children’s needs and effectively discharged their responsibilities in line with Tusla’s policies and procedures. There were appropriate arrangements in place to protect children from harm and to ensure health needs were promptly addressed. However, while staffing levels overall were sufficient, the centre had a number of staff absences and vacancies which were filled by agency staff. There were plans in place to address this.

The report can be found at the link below.