THE HSE says An Garda Siochána have asked them to delay the publication a report into sexual abuse at one of its care facilities in Donegal, while its investigation continues.
The Brandon report details how ‘devastating’ abuse was carried out on mainly non-verbal adults by another resident between 2003 and 2016. That resident has since died.
The report found that at least 18 intellectually disabled residents of Ard Greine Court and the Sean O’Hare Unit in Stranorlar were subjected “to sustained sexual abuse” during a period of about 13 years with the full knowledge of staff and management.
A copy of the unpublished report has been obtained by the Irish Times.
The report, from the HSE’s National Independent Review Panel, finds the Ard Gréine Court complex and Sean O’Hare Unit in St Joseph’s hospital in Stranorlar had been run with a “disregard for residents’ rights”, allowing sexual abuse to continue “unabated”.
It says it believes the impact of the abuse on the victims has still “not been fully understood” by HSE management.
The report finds that over 108 incidents of “devastating” abuse were perpetrated on mainly non-verbal adults by another resident, who is given the pseudonym “Brandon” in the report.
The report finds management at both service and regional level “had neither the management skills nor competence to deal with the serious problems Brandon’s behaviour presented”, and the “common strategy” to manage him was to move him from ward to ward.
Today, the HSE issued a statement re Brandon Report, Ard Greine Court, Stanorlar, Donegal.
It reads:
“Every day the Health Service and its staff seek to provide safe, high-quality health and social care with compassion to many thousands of people in communities around the country, and the public trust us to do this.
What happened in this case fell far short of those standards and we apologise sincerely for that.
When things go wrong the HSE Incident Management Framework provides a mechanism to review what went wrong and to understand how. We take review reports extremely seriously and in all cases, following the acceptance of final review reports, any recommendations made are implemented to prevent future harm.
The HSE received the initial report of the National Independent Review Panel ( the Brandon Report) in August 2020 by which time Brandon* was no longer residing in the service.
The HSE, on receipt of the Report, acted immediately to seek assurance as to the current safety of the residents within the relevant service. The HSE’s primary concern is the current safety of residents. Regular safeguarding meetings take place within the service, which has undergone significant reforms in advancing the Community Healthcare Organisation’s strategy for disability services generally, and specifically in response to the Report findings, building on ongoing improvements in that specific service prior to the report.
The residents of the service and their families remain our priority. All those affected are, and have been, in receipt of a range of multidisciplinary supports. These supports continue to be provided locally, with oversight by senior HSE management at national level.
Following receipt of the initial report the HSE acted to commence implementation of the recommendations – including the establishment of an independently chaired working group at regional level to carry out the service reform and redesign required. This work has been ongoing since 2020 notwithstanding the requirement for finalisation of the Report to await the conclusion of other related processes, and responses from named parties within the report. An Garda Siochána have asked us to delay publication at this point while their investigations continue.
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