Tusla statement re: HIQA inspection of child protection and welfare services in the Midlands area

Tusla – Child and Family Agency welcomes the findings of the HIQA report on the Midlands area. HIQA reports allow the Agency to ensure that services are continuously improved to meet the highest standards. The inspection took place in January 2016 with the final inspection taking place in March 2016. While there are a number of areas which still require improvement, significant progress has been made throughout the child protection and welfare services over the last 12 months. The report also highlighted the feedback from children who said there was good communication with the social work team. Additionally, children were regularly visited by social workers and good communication between social workers and families was noted.
 
Commenting on the report, Mr Jim Gibson, Chief Operations Officer, Tusla said: “Tusla is committed to improving child protection and welfare services and will continue to build on the significant progress that has been made in the past 12 months. A range of measures have been implemented, including strengthening the management structure, allocating additional staff to reduce backlogs and activating a robust action plan to address key areas for improvement. This coupled with the determination and commitment of the staff during a challenging period for the service has led to a stronger service and support system in the area.”
 
Based on the inspection findings, between January and March 2016 there were a significant steps taken and improvements made to address issues raised by the inspectors, and to strengthen the services being provided to children. In addition, the Agency continues to implement a detailed action plan which was designed in 2015.
 
The main areas for improvement and corresponding actions taken were:

• Unallocated cases in the duty / intake service: The area follows protocol in line with national policy to ensure that all unallocated cases are risk assessed, prioritised and reviewed on a regular basis. Assessments are focused on children’s needs and immediate risks to children are dealt with urgently. During the follow-up inspection in March HIQA noted that of the sample collected all cases were appropriately prioritised
• Garda notifications: A new tracking system for Garda notifications and acknowledgements is active across the area and is reviewed on a monthly basis. Cases are risk assessed and rated in line with national policy and procedures. Additionally, concerns are addressed through ongoing inter-agency cooperation in the area between an Garda Siochana and Tusla.
• Adult retrospective abuse cases: A governance group for adult retrospective abuse cases was put in place to oversee management of these cases. Referrals are risk assessed and prioritised and all high priority cases have been allocated.
• Staffing: All current vacancies in the area have been approved for filling in addition to new posts (22) which were allocated to strengthen and enhance the experience of children in the area.  
• ICT: An ICT system has been developed in the area to track all cases within child protection and welfare services. Necessary ICT equipment has been provided to all staff. These are temporary measures until the roll-out of the national childcare information system (NCCIS).

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