Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 March 2017
936. Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony asked the Minister for Health the 33 residential centres run by St. John of God for persons with disabilities that are currently deemed by HIQA to be non-compliant with regulations, in tabular form. [13752/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra937. Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony asked the Minister for Health the action being taken by the Health Service Executive to ensure that the 33 residential centres run by St. John of God for persons with disabilities are operated on a basis that is compliant with HIQA regulations. [13753/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra938. Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony asked the Minister for Health the funding that has been provided in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017 by his Department and the HSE to St. John of God to provide services to persons with disabilities. [13754/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 936 to 938, inclusive, together.
Saint John of God Community Services Limited (SJOG) operates HSE funded services across intellectual disability, adult mental health and child and adolescent psychiatry. It supports over 6,800 children and adults annually with over 3,000 staff and volunteers. In intellectual disability services, SJOG provides day services for over 2,200 children and adults, residential services for over 900 children and adults, and respite services for over 750 service users.
I understand that the service provider is currently in an escalation process with HIQA owing to non-compliance with national standards in a number of facilities and serious concerns being raised by the regulator in terms of the organisation’s capacity to effectively govern and deliver safe services for people with a disability.
Non-compliance with national standards can range from relatively minor issues that have a minimal impact on the care and welfare of residents to significant incidents of major non-compliance. I understand that HIQA's ongoing discussions with SJOG are focused on a small number of designated centres with major issues of non-compliance. At the same time, I can confirm that there are 79 SJOG designated centres currently recorded as being inspected by HIQA. As it takes an average of four to five months from date of inspection to date of publication, only data up to October 2016 has been analysed to date. 45 of the 126 inspections of SJOG centres carried out between January 2015 and October 2016 achieved above 75% overall compliance, of which 16 inspections achieved 100% compliance.
The St. John of God Services are funded by the HSE under Section 38 of the Health Act, 2004. Services are provided through a Service Arrangement which is signed on an annual basis and reviewed continually. The SJOG receives significant funding from the HSE as highlighted in the table and is scheduled to receive €134,299,012 in 2017:
|
Year |
Disability Services |
Mental Health |
Total |
|
2011 |
€106,436,289 |
€22,684,059 |
€129,123,348 |
|
2012 |
€104,575,670 |
€21,376,411 |
€125,952,081 |
|
2013 |
€102,723,834 |
€21,483,070 |
€124,206,904 |
|
2014 |
€100,112,012 |
€21,479,230 |
€121,591,242 |
|
2015 |
€103,817,057 |
€21,479,230 |
€125,300,887 |
|
2016 |
€109,811,678 |
€22,530,819 |
€132,342,497 |
The HSE is committed to working with all agencies to improve compliance in voluntary and statutory service providers in respect of the National Standards for Residential Services for Children and Adults with Disabilities.
As the particular issues raised by the Deputy are service matters, I have arranged for the questions to be referred to the HSE for direct reply to the Deputy.
