Minister must act on Western Care - Conway-Walsh

Western Care must regulate 47 services with HIQA

Edwin McGreal

As fresh concerns emerge over Western Care, Mayo TD Rose Conway-Walsh has called on Government ministers to urgently intervene at the Mayo charity.
Western Care has been at the centre of turmoil since last October with upheaval at senior management and concerns over the provision of care to vulnerable service users in the Individualised Services section of the organisation.
It has now emerged that HIQA concerns over the under-fire Individualised Services were effectively ignored by the Mayo charity for the past six years. Subsequent to HIQA inspecting five centres last December, all of which needed to be registered with the health and social care watchdog, it has emerged a further 42 Individualised Services also require HIQA registration.
The Sinn Féin TD has called on the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Minister for State with responsibility for Disabilities Anne Rabbitte to urgently ensure accountability and proper oversight at Western Care following a significant number of reports of poor standards of care and failure to regulate services that should have been regulated and subject to regular inspection under HIQA.
“I am aware that since 2017 HIQA had concerns that Western Care were exploiting a loophole in the legislation and not registering individualised services. HIQA raised these concerns with Western Care at the time, but Western Care insisted that the individual care services did not meet the criteria to be registered with the Chief Inspector and be subjected to inspections. HIQA raised the same concerns again four years later in 2021. Again, Western Care argued that no oversight was necessary.
“The last number of months has seen a flood of people coming forward to discuss serious issues in relation to the care being provided at Western Care and the treatment of staff. Many of the most alarming accounts centred on care for individuals living alone in Individualised Services,” Deputy Conway-Walsh told The Mayo News.  

HIQA concerns
In December, HIQA confirmed to this newspaper they had received ‘information of concern’ in relation to Individualised Services in Western Care. The extent of that concern has now emerged.
“Late last year Western Care agreed to allow HIQA to inspect a sample of five homes where care was being provided. HIQA found that all five should have been registered. Operating unregistered is an offence under the 2007 Health Act. Western Care has now confirmed that they have 104 individualised services and that 47 should have been registered.
“Again, I call for an independent investigation to be carried out as to how and why this was allowed to happen. Vulnerable service users, their families, staff, former staff and the wider public in Mayo who generously contributed to Western Care over the years deserve to know who made the decisions that these services did not need to be regulated. Contravention of the 2007 Health Act over such a long period of time is a very serious matter,” she said.
While a number of protected disclosures were made by current and former Western Care workers, Deputy Conway-Walsh said better legislation is needed to stop something like this happening again.
“Brave and committed workers and former workers at Western Care have made protected disclosures and submitted information showing that not only should these services have been registered but there was significant deterioration in the management and oversight of these services.
“Ambiguity in the legislation was used by Western Care to avoid HIQA oversight of these care services for years. Even though some people receiving care in this way are the most vulnerable people in our county.
“The legislation as it currently stands, means HIQA do not have the authority to enter and inspect non-registered services without Western Care’s permission,” she said.

Call to ministers
She repeated calls she has been making since November for Government intervention.
“Ministers Donnelly and Rabbitte must ensure there is accountability for these failures and outline the steps they are taking to ensure this can never happen again either in Western Care or similar care services in the future. They must also give firm and frank assurances that those who have come forward to expose the non-compliance will not be ostracized.
“It is very clear that the 2007 Health Act needs to be extended to incorporate all services provided to vulnerable users.  A holistic approach is necessary where HIQA has the powers and resources to inspect all the services delivered by providers.  A culture of providers marking their own homework and deciding whether or not to invite inspection cannot be tolerated.
“Mayo needs Western Care. There is now an opportunity to shape an organisation that fosters a culture of transparency, openness, accountability and respect for service users, their families, staff and future staff. I want to thank sincerely all the dedicated workers within Western Care who go above and beyond to ensure the rights of people with disabilities in their care are upheld,” she added.
The Mayo News submitted questions to HIQA, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and to Western Care themselves.
HIQA said they ‘continue to engage’ with Western Care and will be making ‘no further comment until that engagement has been completed’.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth had not responded to questions at the time of going to print.
Western Care said they continue ‘to engage collaboratively with HIQA and the HSE on an ongoing basis to ensure services meet the required standards and to comply with our regulatory obligations’.
They added that ‘the support and care of the people we support remains under constant review’.
“Our current engagement with HIQA includes progressing new models of service across Western Care Association to ensure the needs of the people we support are met,” they stated, adding ‘any service that requires registration with HIQA will be registered’.