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. 

An announced inspection of a statutory children’s residential centre in the Tusla Dublin Mid-Leinster region was carried out on 2 September 2021. The centre was found to be compliant with six of the seven standards assessed and substantially compliant with one standard.

Children living in the centre were well cared for and had their needs met. Inspectors found that children had positive relationships with each other and with the staff team who cared for them. Children experienced well-planned and individualised care that had contributed to changes and improvements in their lives. The centre was experiencing a period of stability at the time of this inspection and risks to the service, including risks associated with COVID-19, were well managed. 

The centre was welcoming, spacious, clean and bright, but some improvements were required to improve the homeliness of the centre. There was some outstanding maintenance work required in a bedroom and a hallway, and some rooms required painting. There were plans in place to improve the interior décor of the centre, and to clear overgrowth in the garden, in order to enhance the outdoor space and the potential for more outdoor recreation. The centre had two cars which were well maintained, but these cars required road tax certification.

There was effective leadership of the day-to-day operations of the centre. The management structure was defined and stable, and roles and responsibilities were clear. There were sufficient numbers of experienced staff in the centre and they shared and implemented the centre’s ethos and approach to care that was being provided to the children. Managers valued and encouraged learning from internal and external monitoring of the service in order to drive improvement in the quality and safety of the service.

Children were safe in the centre and there was a system in place to monitor the progress of child protection referrals made to Tusla social work departments. However, the inspector found that a full recording of the outcomes of some child protection concerns were not completed, and although this did not impact directly on children, it could be improved upon.

The report is available at the link below.