A woman with a severe intellectual disability was “unlawfully” restrained repeatedly while in the care of a Co Wicklow charity, with the organisation fearing the practice had exposed it to a potential legal case.
Sunbeam House Services runs a number of residential centres for adults with intellectual disabilities, as well as respite and day services.
Correspondence to the organisation’s senior management and board chairman in August 2017 raised concerns about the use of restraints.
In email, then-managing director John Hannigan said “this is urgent as it is a case that may see the directors being sued, jointly and severally, if appropriate action is not taken”.
Advice from legal firm Arthur Cox said the charity needed a High Court order to "ensure that there is appropriate lawful oversight" of the use of the physical restraints, and to confirm the measures were in the best interests of the woman.
The Irish Times has obtained confidential records related to the case, as well as further internal documents raising further issues about care standards, governance and finances at Sunbeam House.
In an email on August 23rd, 2017, Mr Hannigan said the matter had raised “potential difficulties” for several other residents, and asked Arthur Cox to review a list of further cases.
In the email, Mr Hannigan said two letters from Arthur Cox needed to be brought before the board, both of which “suggest that Sunbeam House Services has been acting unlawfully” in its policy of restraining the resident.
“In the event that the policy is appropriate, but not properly regulated, that is unlawful,” one of the letters said. “If [the resident] does not have capacity, this requires a prompt application to High Court for the purposes of ensuring that you have the appropriate orders in place to allow you lawfully restrain a person who does not have capacity.”
The charity’s board was told at a meeting on August 24th that “there was no legal support for the use of physical restraint” on the woman, according to minutes.
Discharge
Sunbeam House did not seek a court order to regularise the use of restraints, and instead discharged the woman from its care, stating it could not meet her complex needs.
Asked for comment, Sunbeam House chief executive Joe Lynch said he could not discuss individual cases.
A separate, unpublished investigation into allegations of poor practice in one of the organisation's residential centres in Arklow found there was an "institutional" approach to care. The investigation was commissioned after a staff member reported concerns about standards.
Gordon Jeyes, former chief executive of Tusla, conducted the investigation and completed a report in June 2018. The report was not published as it was an internal investigation.
One of the concerns related to a resident eating out of bins, which the report found was “an example of diet not being properly managed”.
Another allegation detailed a resident being pushed from a kitchen area, and falling to the floor afterwards. The report said the “particularly troubling allegation” was the “most distressing example of the culture” in the home. One staff member had also been warned over threatening the same resident with “banishment to the garden”.
Another resident was left without bedsheets for months. The sheets had been removed as a trial due to the individual’s skin condition, but the decision was “not reviewed and stopped for several months”, the report said.
Practices in the centre were “less than ideal”, and highlighted systemic problems where “responsibility for less than satisfactory service is widely shared at all levels”, it said.
Infighting
The board of Sunbeam House has also been beset with infighting and controversy, according to minutes of meetings seen by The Irish Times.
In early 2019, half the board voted against its then chairman, Austin Kenny, remaining in place after directors learned he had previously been convicted of auditing a company while not qualified to do so.
The board had received anonymous correspondence detailing four prior convictions against Mr Kenny by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement in 2003, for which he was fined €2,000.
During a board meeting on April 11th, 2019, Mr Kenny said he had reflected on the matter and legal advice had suggested “the conviction was not relevant”, according to minutes.
The board held a vote over whether he should remain on the board and as chairman. Four members, including Mr Kenny, voted for him to remain in place, with three voting against.
When contacted by The Irish Times, Mr Kenny said the matter was a “non-issue” from an “awfully long time ago” and had been deemed irrelevant to his position. When he sought re-election as chairman in November 2019 he was defeated, but he remains an ordinary board member.
Tensions between the board and a group representing residents’ families has also been a persistent issue for years, according to several sources.
Hiqa concerns
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) raised concerns over governance standards at the organisation in recent years.
In April 2019, the healthcare regulator required senior staff from Sunbeam House to attend a “cautionary meeting”. In a subsequent letter, Hiqa said it was “significantly concerned” with governance and management arrangements.
In a letter dated May 3rd, 2019, obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, Hiqa said it was “concerned in relation to the overall fitness of the provider” to run services.
Hiqa had concerns “that there is an absence of the board holding the executive to account” and the organisation’s “governance and management arrangements are not effective”.
In an August 2020 newsletter to staff, the organisation's financial controller, Martin Rogers, warned about a rise in the mishandling of residents' funds.
Sunbeam “has seen instances of mishandling of client monies over the years. In recent months there has been a small but completely unacceptable increase in such cases,” he said. The organisation would take a “zero tolerance approach” to misuse of residents’ funds, he said.
It had commissioned an independent audit into the issue, which had “highlighted weaknesses”, and the organisation was updating procedures, he said.
Previously, auditors Deloitte conducted a report in 2018 for the HSE into the management of resident funds. That audit, seen by The Irish Times, identified oversight weaknesses where "unauthorised expenses may be incurred and not identified".
“Where there are no receipts on file and no details provided in the [record] book, there might be misappropriation of clients’ money which is not being identified,” it warned.
Financial difficulties
The organisation is also facing financial difficulties about one of its pension funds. In early 2017, a report for the board from actuaries Willis Towers Watson outlined its defined benefit pension scheme had a €700,000 deficit.
In May 2019, the board discussed the solvency of the pension fund, and agreed “doing nothing is not an option”, meeting minutes show. One director queried if the organisation was obliged to continue with the fund, or if the pension scheme could be “reneged on”.
In a statement, Mr Lynch said the organisation “has faced various challenges in the past that have been largely addressed, as we introduced significant changes over the past two years”.
Sunbeam’s staff work “tirelessly” to provide a range of services to adults with intellectual disabilities, and allow them to live “full and satisfying lives as equal citizens of their local communities”, the chief executive said.
The organisation had “regular meetings” with the HSE, its main funder, and delivered a break-even financial year in 2019, he said. “Our pension fund is constantly monitored by external trustees and expertly managed so as to meet its current and future obligations,” he said.
“We constantly keep the management and operation of our services under review… We continually endeavour to address the matters raised by Hiqa,” he said.
“We also have ongoing engagements with families as we work together to provide the best possible care in each individual circumstance, and this includes family representation on our board of directors.”
