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 Authoritysystem was not implemented in full and did not support the collection of quality data.The acting principal social worker told inspectors that some data was not inputtedinto the system consistently by the social workers in the LHA. Social workers toldinspectors that they were not aware of the consequences for planning and deliveringthe service if they failed to input the relevant information that was available to them.This resulted in a system could not support effective decision-making for planningand service delivery in a safe way.Inspectors found that standardised information was being collected in relation tointake, assessment and allocation activity and collated at a regional level andnational level. This report included the number of referrals over the month and thenumber of open cases at the start and end of the month. The LHA was also requiredto submit information in relation to unallocated cases including how many therewere, for how long had they been unallocated and how they had been reviewedwhile awaiting allocation. The LHA also submitted information on the prioritisation ofallocated cases. Open cases were categorised into three priorities – high, medium orlow – using nationally agreed definitions. Inspectors reviewed the reports producedby the LHA and spoke to the acting principal social worker, social work team leadersand social workers. It was not clear how this information had been captured andmanaged as the prioritisation system was not consistently used in the day-to-daymanagement of open cases and social workers were not all aware of the nationallyagreed definitions. The service director and the area manager had not identified thepotential risk associated with the unallocated open cases and therefore had notdeveloped any strategy to mitigate it. Nor was there evidence that the LHA learnedfrom the information collected to improve the quality of the service provided. Thisagain impacted on the safe delivery of an effective child protection and welfareservice.There was poor awareness of information governance and staff were not aware oftheir responsibilities and their accountability in this regard. Staff were not aware ofany policies or procedures and had not received any recent training in relation tocurrent legislation, national and international standards or evidence-based guidance.Some staff interviewed were aware of the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and2003 and identified that they facilitated children and families to have access topersonal information held by the service in compliance with this legislation and in thebest interests of the child. Others were not familiar with the provisions of these Acts,and the absence of a policy meant that there was a risk of inconsistent practices inrelation to children and families accessing personal information held by the service.The service did not have a process to regularly assess its compliance with relevantlegislation, national Standards, evidence-based guidance and its own policies andprocedures in order to ensure that information governance practices remained apriority and were regularly reviewed and improved.49