The operators of a brand-new residential centre for people with autism in Co Cork have been told it cannot open until serious failures to comply with regulations are addressed.
Inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found five areas of major non-compliance at the Carena Care centre, despite the fact that it is located in a newly-renovated farmhouse and has not yet opened. The centre is owned by a British company that operates a centre in Worcestershire in the English midlands.
Inspectors said the person in charge did not have the required qualifications, skills and experience necessary to manage the centre and were critical of the fact that many of its arrangements and policies cited UK law.
They also said there were no clear arrangements to ensure a pharmacist would be available to residents and said the policy on risk-taking did not include sufficient detail on the handling of incidents involving aggression or violence.
The centre is designed for four residents with autism, epilepsy or challenging behaviours and is located near a small town in mid-Cork. Inspectors found the two-storey farmhouse had been renovated to a very high standard and significant resources had been spent on fire safety upgrades.
The centre is on four acres of land overlooking a lake and the farm has chickens, roosters, dogs and two horses. The person in charge said that she would soon be qualified in “therapeutic horse riding for people with an intellectual disability”.
Policies on Garda vetting were contradictory, the inspection report found, and there was a lack of clarity on the ratio of staff to residents.
The operators have undertaken to employ a more qualified person to run the centre and to ensure all policies are in compliance with Irish laws and regulations.
