HSE Child Protection and Welfare Service in Carlow/Kilkenny - hiqa.ie

Inspection of the HSE Child Protection and Welfare Service in Carlow/Kilkenny Local Health Area in theHSE South RegionHealth Information and Quality Authority4. MethodologyThe aim of on-site inspection fieldwork is to gather further evidence of compliancewith the National Standards through document review, meetings and interviews andobservation. The inspection focuses initially on one particular part of the child’sjourney: the point at which the child is referred to children’s social care servicesbecause they are believed to be at risk of, or actually suffering, harm or have welfareneeds.During this part of the inspection, the inspectors will evaluate:• the timeliness and management of referrals• the effectiveness of assessment and risk management processes• the provision of immediate help where required• the extent of focus on the child or young person’s needs and• the effectiveness of multi-agency work at the point of and immediately followingreferral.The remainder of the fieldwork focuses on all other aspects of the child’s journey.The key activities of this inspection involved:• the interrogation of data• the review of policies and procedures, minutes of various meetings, 12 staff files,audits and service plans• the review of 71 children’s case files by both tracking and sampling informationcontained within their files• meeting with 21 children and young people, 26 parents and two carers• meeting with 10 social workers, four team leaders, the information officer, theRAISE information change manager• interviewed the acting independent chair of child protection case conferences, theacting principal social worker, the area manager and the regional services director• meeting with five external stakeholders and 12 external professionals includingschool principals, Clinical Psychologist, acting Director of Public Health Nursing,Risk Advisor, clinical nurse/ midwife managers and An Garda Síochána.• observing staff in their day-to-day work• observing practice in two multi-agency meetings, one professional meetings, fourchild protection/review conferences and one child protection notificationmanagement team meeting.9