Yahoo News Youngsters put 'at risk' at Ayrshire support service for disabled people
A support service for young people with disabilities has been panned for “significant weaknesses” which has “compromised” its healthcare delivery.
Rainbow VIP’s, based in Prestwick, was graded ‘weak’ across three quality indicators - the second lowest grading possible.
The findings come from the Care Inspectorate who made an unannounced inspection at the service earlier this month with the findings now made public.
Among the key messages the Care Inspectorate said the service needed to ensure staff were “trained” to “support the health needs” of service users.
And there was a “lack” of self-evaluation and effective quality assurance systems.
The care scrutiny body also claimed there was a lack of debriefing for staff and young people and a “lack of supervision” for staff.
One plus point was that care plans were in the process of “being developed” and “captured the views” of parents and young people.
Worryingly, the Care Inspectorate noted that there was a lack of medical assessment when young people had potentially injured themselves, or presented specific health needs.
Alongside this, the Care Inspectorate said they found “no evidence” of medical consents from parents or guardians if a medical emergency arose.
And this led to young people’s health being “put at risk,” from a lack of understanding of the impact of their injuries.
Rainbow VIP’s provides care and support to children and young people with disabilities. The service predominantly supports young people to engage in education and activities within the community. This includes individual care and support to some young people within their homes.
The service operates from an office in Prestwick town centre and covers the South Ayrshire area.
An extract from the Care Inspectorate report said: “Whilst we identified some strengths, these were compromised by significant weaknesses.
“The service needed to ensure they responded to the health needs of those they supported. We found there was a lack of medical assessment when young people had potentially injured themselves, or presented specific health needs. Alongside this we found no evidence of medical consents from parents or guardians if a medical emergency arose. This led to young people’s health being put at risk, from a lack of understanding of the impact of their injuries.”
Those using the service were “encouraged” to live a healthy lifestyle and parents told inspectors: “They offer to take my child to the gym or for walks.”
One issue of concern related to the needs of service users, which the Care Inspectorate said: “The management team had a lack of knowledge of the needs of the people they supported. Some staff told us they were supporting specific medical needs and the manager was unaware of this. This was a concern, given the need for specific training to ensure staff have the correct skills to support young people.”
Leadership, staff team and supporting people’s wellbeing were all graded ‘weak’ but planned care and support was graded ‘good.’
The service was given a list of requirements to be put in place by August 1.
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