Varying degrees of quality service and management found in different localities

Young people continue to experience an inconsistency in the quality of children’s services from different providers across the country. The significant variation in services is documented in the Health Information and Quality Authority’s (HIQA’s) latest annual overview report on the inspection and regulation of children’s services in 2015, published today.

Ann Ryan, Head of Children’s Programme, HIQA said: “The children’s team conducted 114 inspections of different services in 2015. These included Child Protection and Welfare Services, Foster Care Services, Statutory Residential Care, Special Care Units, Children Detention Schools (Oberstown Campus) and Designated Centres for children with a disability. What is clear from inspection and monitoring activity is the variance of practice by different providers in relation to the quality of service delivered”.

At the end of 2015, there were 26,655 cases open to child protection and welfare services which are provided by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla). National figures provided by Tusla show that while the majority of cases awaiting allocation were of a lower priority level, 999 of those 6,718 unallocated cases were classified as high priority. These are children who have been prioritized by Tusla for a social work service based on their assessed needs.

While the management of high priority cases had improved since 2014, data showed up regional inconsistencies in how waitlists are administered, with some regions performing substantially better than others.

Three child protection and welfare service areas inspected last year also showed up a considerable disparity in meeting standards. The Dublin North and Dublin South East/Wicklow areas both met 8 out of 27 standards inspected against, but the Louth Meath service area met just 1 out of 27 standards with a judgment of significant risk to children against eight standards.

While day-to-day social work practice was deemed to be generally good, service providers in these areas had to respond to 62 actions with 24 of those actions coming under the theme of safe and effective services. These relate to waitlists and allocation of social workers, delayed notifications to An Garda Síochána in relation to alleged abuses and other issues pertaining to the 1,349 children on the Child Protection Notification System (CPNS). Consistent delays in assessing children’s needs expose them to unnecessary or unidentified risk.

Ann Ryan, Head of Children’s Programme, HIQA added: “By the end of December 2015, 30 centres for children with disabilities were successfully registered with HIQA and a further 13 had been inspected for the purpose of registration. Over the course of the year, the children’s team carried out 78 inspections with a number of centres being inspected on more than one occasion to drive improvement. One in three inspections was unannounced, with 42 inspections being for the purpose of registration”.

The children’s team received 175 three-day regulatory notifications from providers of designated centres for children with disabilities last year. These notifications alert HIQA to potential risks to the health, safety or wellbeing of residents. The highest number of notifications related to allegations of suspected or confirmed abuse (72).

Responsibility for the regulation of designated centres for children with disabilities was transferred to a new disability section in HIQA in April 2016. The programme of registration and monitoring of centres for both children and adults will continue under this new section.

The inspections of child protection services in 80% of Tusla service areas were completed by the end of 2015. Strong leadership, good governance and management continue to form the foundations of good quality services and the variation in meeting standards across the country reinforces the pivotal role of local managers in achieving goals and objectives. HIQA will continue its rigorous monitoring programme in 2016 to realize consistent, safe and effective children’s service across all areas of the country.

Ends.

Further Information:

Suzanne O’Brien, Communications Manager, HIQA 01 814 7488 /087 624 1216 sobrien@hiqa.ie

Notes to the Editor:

• Inspectors met with 430 children during the course of inspections and talked to them about their experience of using services. While the majority of children felt respected and listened to, a common theme was a lack of knowledge about their rights, particularly their right to access information held about them and to make a complaint.
• In 2015, HIQA received 21 notifications of deaths of children in care or of children known to child protection and welfare service and seven serious incidents involving children. It should be noted that some children in care die of natural causes or in circumstances which could not be prevented. The National Review Panel carried out formal reviews of some of these deaths and serious incidents.
• The children’s team received 75 pieces of unsolicited information relating to Tusla’s services during 2015. Considering the high volume of work undertaken by Tusla, this level of unsolicited information is low.