Today (16 December), the HSE has published the Independent Review of the Management of Brandon* - Report for Publication, carried out by the National Independent Review Panel.
The HSE would like to apologise to residents and their families for the failings in care at a HSE residential and day care service for adults with intellectual disability in the North West.
The HSE fully accepts the findings of the National Independent Review Panel (the Brandon Report).
The HSE received the initial report in August 2020 by which time Brandon* was no longer residing in the service.
On receipt of the Report, the HSE 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. This work has been ongoing since 2020.
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.
To maintain client confidentiality we will not provide details of our engagements with individuals or their families.
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Notes to the Editor
In 2017 the National Independent Review Panel was established by the HSE to review the most serious incidents within the HSE and HSE funded disability services. The NIRP examine circumstances related to people with a disability where there are major concerns about how the services involved managed the care of an individual or group of individuals.
The NIRP seek to determine what the relevant services involved might have done differently that could have prevented harm or improved the quality of life for the person/s concerned.
The purpose of these reviews is therefore to ensure that lessons can be learned and that those lessons can be applied to prevent similar situations from occurring again. It is important that such reports are robust and above question regards due process in order for the HSE to have a firm basis to act. This does not negate the ability for immediate action to be taken to assure the current safety of residents and service users at any time during the review process.
The HSE cannot comment on individuals as to do so would breach our duty of confidentiality to the individuals concerned. Maintaining confidentiality is not only an ethical requirement for the HSE, it is also a legal requirement as defined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) along with the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018.
The NIRP report in to Brandon, and the previous Look Back Review, examined issues that arose from 2003 to 2016.
In order to ensure completeness CHO 1 separately commenced a file review for the period 1991 – 2002, which reflected the time period that Brandon was in the care of disability services. The records were screened for all notations referring to any alleged and / or actual sexual conduct during this time frame. The circumstances of each potential adverse occurrence were examined in more detail and an account prepared.
The content of a draft report completed based on this file review under taken by CHO 1 was considered by the HSE nationally in recent days for their response.
The content of this file review raised some concerns and in that context, it has been agreed that this report will now remain as draft, while a further validation is completed by a person/team appointed by the HSE nationally in order to address any queries and concerns.
This validation is to take place as soon as possible given the importance of finalising these matters in as timely and sensitive a means as possible for all involved.
Last updated on: 16 / 12 / 2021
