From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Staffing was the main reason two homes for adults with intellectual disabilities in Galway City were found to be in serious breach of regulations.

The facilities, both located in different residential suburbs, are run by Ability West. The one-storey Ocean Wave Services is currently full with five residents, while Seacrest Services over two floors was registered to support seven adults but only had five and one of these only accessed the service part-time.

An “urgent action” was issued to Ocean Wave by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) in relation to staffing in the centre following the unannounced inspection last August.

In a report just published, inspectors noted “good areas of practice were observed” – the five residents had lived together for a long time and got on well. Each were active in their local community, with many accessing local day services during the week.

But the facility was deemed to be in breach of the regulations in four of five areas. They were found to be non-compliant regarding staffing, governance and management, risk management procedures and formulating personal plans for each resident. The only area the facility met their obligations was in terms of fire safety.

Seacrest fell down on six out of eight criteria in an inspection last July. Two of the residents were confined to wheelchairs full-time, which put extra pressure on staff as often two employees were needed for certain tasks.

Overall record keeping in the centre was found to be poor.

Both centres had given commitments to improve their standards across the highlighted areas before the end of September and will be reviewed in the next unannounced HIQA inspection.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, and support our journalism, see the November 18 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.