Emer Gerrard | Contributing Writer
Twelve staff at the Stewarts care facility in Palmerstown, which cares for individuals with intellectual disabilities, have been suspended after Trinity College students who were on work placement at the facility made allegations relating to neglectful or abusive practices.
The allegations include individuals being showered without privacy as shower doors were left open, being spoken to harshly or as if they were not present, and being locked out of their bungalows.
Students from Trinity’s intellectual disability nursing course, which organises placements with the care facility, recently made these allegations. The instances of misconduct are believed to have occurred during the end of last year and the beginning of 2013.
“The number of people suspended speaks of the wider culture of these organisations and poses questions about whether these are systemic issues.”
At present, Stewarts care facility caters for 300 residents and 600 additional clients for whom it provides day-time services. The organisation provides care for a wide variety of individuals, from adults to pre-school services for children with learning difficulties. The facility states that it caters for “the most profoundly disabled people with whom other services cannot easily cope”.
The college is also involved with Stewarts through a programme run by the School of Occupational Therapy to help Stewarts clients to enter mainstream education.
These allegations are not the first claims of abuse made against Stewarts. In 2006, a wheelchair-bound boy was reportedly slapped three times by a member of staff. The worker was subsequently found guilty of gross misconduct and fired. However, Stewarts was later found to have treated the member of staff unfairly and the individual was reinstated.
The latest allegations bring into focus facilities which provide services for those with intellectual disabilities across the country. Some 9,000 people avail of residential services and 25,000 of adult day services. However, until recently, these services were not subject to State inspections or care regulations. Only last month, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) was made responsible for monitoring care standards in some 1,300 residential accommodation centres. The number of staff suspended raises worrying questions according to Paddy Connolly, chief executive of Inclusion Ireland: “The number of people suspended speaks of the wider culture of these organisations and poses questions about whether these are systemic issues.”
