Watchdog's 'serious concerns' at supported living facility

"Serious concerns" person been identified by Northern Ireland's wellness watchdog regarding the transportation of attraction astatine a supported surviving installation successful westbound Belfast.

The aforesaid installation – The Mews - was antecedently criticised by the parents of 1 of its work users successful an interrogation with BBC News NI.

The Cedar Foundation, which runs the service, said it acknowledged determination were "areas" wherever compliance had not been "fully met".

It comes aft the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) recovered a bid of failings which, it said, compromised work users' prime of life.

Cedar said it was present moving to instrumentality a "comprehensive enactment plan" to code the issues identified.

However, it besides argued that the standards applied by the RQIA successful regulating supported surviving services were outdated and not needfully applicable to radical with analyzable needs.

Earlier this year, Mark and Marjorie Sharp said Cedar had threatened to evict their girl aft they made aggregate complaints regarding her care.

Laura, 39, has a terrible learning disablement and has been surviving astatine The Mews for 7 years.

Mr and Mrs Sharp person present welcomed the RQIA's determination to instrumentality enforcement enactment against the facility.

The RQIA carried retired an unannounced inspection astatine The Mews implicit the people of 3 days successful February and March.

It said this was successful effect to receiving accusation astatine the commencement of February.

It concluded that the work was "failing to consistently and meaningfully instrumentality a supported surviving exemplary of care" that focuses connected promoting work users' "independence" and "choice", and the "delivery of person-centred care".

It said these "deficits" undermined the halfway principles of supported surviving and truthful "compromise work users' prime of life".

The watchdog issued the installation with 2 "failure-to-comply" notices - giving it until June to guarantee its concerns person been addressed.

It is besides seeking to enforce a information connected The Mews that would forestall it from admitting immoderate caller work users without anterior agreement.

Mr and Mrs Sharp said they recognised immoderate of the failings identified by the RQIA successful their daughter's care.

They said Laura had "no prime of life" astatine The Mews and they believed she had been "neglected".

They said she was "more similar a detained patient" than idiosyncratic being supported to unrecorded arsenic independently arsenic possible.

In a connection to BBC News NI, Cedar said "many" of those wrong its supported surviving work had "positive experiences", but added determination were "instances wherever idiosyncratic needs whitethorn spell beyond the scope of supported living".

Among the RQIA's findings were a "limited structure" to work users' regular routines, arsenic good arsenic unit not having the required cognition oregon skills to efficaciously negociate oregon avert behavioural incidents, resulting successful work users being "contained successful a restrictive environment".

It described arsenic "concerning" the usage of "restrictive practices", including the locking of immoderate work users' doors and limiting their quality to entree the plot and beyond.

The watchdog identified an "inflexible and indiscriminate" attack to the usage of cardinal fobs to power entree to interior doors and gates, careless of whether work users had capacity.

It said it was not assured that specified practices promoted the "rights, dignity and choice" of those surviving astatine the facility.

Cedar told BBC News NI that the restrictive practices identified by the RQIA were successful spot specifically to support immoderate work users harmless depending connected the complexity of their needs and that they were formally assessed by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, which commissions the service.

Following the RQIA's findings, Mr Sharp said the installation was "not acceptable for purpose".

Mrs Sharp said her girl was "suffering" successful the installation – that her wellbeing had declined sharply implicit the past twelvemonth to the constituent wherever she present sleeps during overmuch of the day.

"When she archetypal went successful she was retired each time either going shopping, oregon going for a walk, going for a coffee," she said.

"Laura has nary prime of life. She's similar a detained diligent – oregon a detained nonmigratory successful supported living. Laura has thing to look guardant to. She has nary structure."

Mrs Sharp added that she believed the strategy had "let Laura down".

Cedar Foundation said it remained committed to doing its champion "to guarantee that disabled radical get the enactment astir due to their needs".

The Belfast Trust, which commissioned Cedar to supply Laura's care, said it was "very sorry" that the existent concern concerning Laura's placement was "causing sizeable accent and anxiousness to her and her family".

"Laura's wellbeing is of captious value to america and we volition proceed to enactment with her household regarding the adjacent steps successful uncovering the champion result for her," it said.

The spot added that it was moving with Cedar connected an agreed enactment program to code the RQIA's concerns.

Earlier this year, Cedar gave Mr and Mrs Sharp announcement of what they described arsenic their daughter's eviction.

The main crushed for its decision, it said successful a missive to the couple, was that it was "unable to supply the attraction and enactment that Laura needs".

It added that relationships had "broken down" betwixt Mr and Mrs Sharp and Cedar staff, citing "ongoing incidents of verbal aggression, disparaging comments, and intimidation" by Mr and Mrs Sharp towards staff.

Mr and Mrs Sharp told BBC News NI they had ne'er been abusive and had lone ever acted successful the champion interests of their daughter.