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 AuthorityKnowledge and understanding of the protected disclosure policy amongst the staffteam was exceptionally limited. Social workers were not able to identify where tolocate this policy and had limited or no knowledge of it. They told inspectors thatthey were not always willing to raise issues of concern with managers, with thenotable exception of individual risks to children, as it could have a potential negativeimplication for them. Inspectors were concerned about this and raised therequirement for promoting an open and accountable culture throughout the servicewith the area manager and regional service director. They emphasised the need toimplement the HSE’s protected disclosure policy.Standard 5:4 – Child protection and welfare training is provided to staff toimprove outcomes for childrenThis standard was not metThe service did not have a comprehensive or robust training programme to enhancethe knowledge and skills of staff in the area of child protection and welfare and thetraining provided had been limited. All staff had received a briefing on Children First(2011) and most staff had attended joint training with An Garda Síochána. Socialworkers told inspectors this was of some benefit to them. However, the majority ofstaff relied upon their professional experience and familiarity with Children Firstguidelines (1999) to inform their practice.The service had not conducted a training needs analysis in the 12 months prior toinspection and staff had limited and sporadic access to ongoing training. Apart fromthe core Children First (2011) training, not all social workers had access to relevantand current training to enhance their skills and knowledge. There had been noformal evaluation of training provided in order to determine the impact of training onpractice. Team leaders identified that there was no schedule of training and socialworkers told inspectors that they often received short notice of relevant training andwere unable to attend due to prior work commitments. Inspectors observed anexample of this during the inspection when training was advertised on a Thursday forthe following Monday in another geographical area. No member of staff availed ofthis training. The absence of a structured schedule of training resulted in a lack ofcoherent planning to enable all staff to access the most relevant training for them.Staff had limited knowledge of the National Standards for the Protection and Welfareof Children and there had been no forum for discussion or shared learning followingthe launch of the Standards. Whilst staff knowledge and awareness of Children Firstwas proficient, their lack of familiarity with national standards and other policies andprocedures limited their ability to deliver an optimum service to children and families.Training had been organised to facilitate inter-agency networking. The areamanager, acting principal social worker and the chief superintendent informedinspectors that joint HSE/Garda Síochána training had taken place in 2012. Theacting director of public health nursing also advised that her/his team had46