Minister welcomes first HIQA inspection report following her launch of the national child protection standards

Minister Fitzgerald welcomed the publication today of the findings from HIQA’s first inspection against the National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children. The inspection took place in the Carlow/Kilkenny Local Health Area.

Minister Fitzgerald said that HIQA’s first inspection in this crucial area was a result of the Government’s decision to prioritise and resource independent reviews of child welfare and protection services. “Assessing where we are at is a critical stage in ensuring we can achieve the improvements we want in children’s services. The Government’s investment in HIQA to support regulation is one of a number initiatives in the overall strategy to introduce significant improvement in the quality of children’s services. The National Standards, approved in July 2012 introduce new requirements in the use of resources and the operation of systems for the management of quality, risk and information services.
Minister Fitzgerald said

“I am glad to see the roll out of inspections of child welfare and protection services beginning. When I took office I was very disappointed with the absence of information and objective measures of performance concerning the services across the country. The assessment of current performance against nationally agreed standards and the public reporting of inspection findings provide an opportunity to identify improvements in practice and address weaknesses in management systems.

The Minister said she noted challenges for Carlow/Kilkenny and nationally that the inspection has highlighted. “This is the first inspection undertaken and was conducted just three months after the publication of the Standards. The report shows there is considerable room for improvement in the planning and reviewing of services in the area. The report raises challenges for the HSE at a corporate level as well as locally, particularly as regards ensuring adequate systems to support future planning and risk management.” The Minister said “Nevertheless, I note that inspectors noted good practice by experienced social workers and that there was no finding or evidence in the report that a child had been negatively impacted by the HSE.

The report states that overall services were safe and were provided to children by an experienced and long standing workforce. While social work relationships with other professionals including the Gardai were good and the quality of child protection and welfare assessments was satisfactory, overall there were inconsistencies and some poor risk assessment in parts of the area. HIQA inspectors found that the Local Health Area’s management systems did not meet the new Standards including monitoring and risk systems.

An Action Plan has been prepared to address the issues identified in the inspection report. This Plan includes 57 actions and many of the recommendations have either been implemented or are currently underway. There is also a timescale for completion of all of the actions in the plan. Minister Fitzgerald said “Inspection of child protection services are a vital component in providing additional safeguards to children and to steadily improving services. There is now a roadmap for improving services in Carlow/Kilkenny and I am confident that at national level Mr Gordon Jeyes and his team will ensure implementation of the required actions.”