A charity running residential care homes for people with disabilities charged one resident €4,000 to take a five-day trip to Donegal, a recent inspection found.
The State’s healthcare watchdog, HIQA, criticised the practice of the disability care provider, Cheshire Foundation in Ireland, making residents cover the cost of staff accompanying them on trips or holidays, including paying their wages, if they needed assistance.
In one case, a resident in a Dublin facility had to pay €4,000 for a trip to Donegal, with this figure largely made up from covering €3,115 in “staff costs”.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) said this resulted in a “financial burden” being put on residents “to enjoy a short break in Ireland”.
The Cheshire Foundation, a registered charity nearly entirely funded by the Health Service Executive, cares for more than 100 residents across 11 residential facilities. The recent inspection of its residential care home in the Phoenix Park in Dublin found that parents of residents felt the high costs were a “barrier” to residents being able to go on holiday in Ireland.
Read the full report on www.irishtimes.com
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