The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published a report on a children’s residential centre operated by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) in the Dublin Mid Leinster area. 

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 Tusla. HIQA monitors Tusla’s performance against the National Standards for Children’s Residential Centres and advises the Minister and Tusla.



HIQA conducted an unannounced inspection over two days in January 2023. This inspection was a routine inspection to monitor the quality of the service and the level of compliance with the national standards. The inspection assessed eight national standards and found that three standards were assessed as compliant, four were assessed as substantially compliant and one was assessed as not compliant. 



The young people in this centre largely received good-quality care and support from the staff team. They were supported and encouraged to make positive life choices and in their areas of interest.

The centre was well managed, but there were areas for improvement which would further strengthen the governance of the service. The roles and responsibilities of the staff team were clearly understood. There were clear lines of accountability to deliver child-centred, safe and effective care and support. The service had identified and was working towards making improvements to the quality of the service and were in the early stages of service plan development. 



The service delivered to the young people was of a good standard, which included key working and one-to-one sessions that were of a high standard. Some improvements were required in ensuring that all young people experienced care and support which respected and protected their rights on an ongoing basis. While staff promoted many of the rights of young people, such as their participation in care planning and promoting their education, there were gaps in the information that young people were provided about their rights. 



Improvements were also required in the use of restrictive practices and the impact of these practices on all young people living in the centre. The majority of these restrictive practices were in place on the basis of a risk assessment, were recorded in the centre’s restrictive practices log and were regularly reviewed.



Following the inspection, management submitted a satisfactory compliance plan to address the relevant standards that were deemed substantially compliant or non-compliant.



The inspection report and compliance plan can be found at the link below.