Staff at a Renfrewshire facility caring for vulnerable young people have been left anxious at having to restrain youngsters in their care without the proper training.
An unannounced inspection by the care watchdog recently led to a letter of serious concern being issued to Renfrewshire Council which is the care provider at Rowanlea House on Barochan Road in Johnstone.
The Care Inspectorate was damning in its criticism of the management of the residential children’s house, saying that “at times, young people living in the house were not kept safe”.
At the time of the visit on September 20 and 21 there was no manager employed to oversee the day-to-day running of the facility, which can accommodate up to six young people.
Staff told inspectors that the absence of a manager had impacted “on the consistency of care provided and the responses from young people”.
The inspectors also found that staff had not been supported with regular debriefs, supervision, or training to help them progress and develop their knowledge.
The report issued by the Care Inspectorate states: “We found that, historically, there had been a lack of leadership and this had led to inconsistencies in practice within the house.
“Practice was reactive and did not consider the needs of the young people, which impacted on the outcomes for young people.”
And with the lack of leadership, bullying at the facility was allowed to develop unchecked.
The report said that “young people had experienced physical and emotional bullying of a period of months” and that while there had been some attempts to resolve this, “the matter was still ongoing and the impact on the young person was detrimental to their health”.
Staff had not had refresher training to support them in restraining young people, leading “to anxiety at implementing the restraint and, at times, this not being conducted with enough people,” potentially leading to “young people being at risk of harm”.
A lack of staff was cited as one of the reasons for the poor report.
According to inspectors staff “were unable to respond to the needs of young people, at times, due to the high demands within the service and the lack of staff to support this,” adding that “this led to, at times, young people’s safety and health being placed at risk and some concerns going unnoticed”.
The report caught the attention of Labour’s spokesperson for education at Renfrewshire Council.
Councillor Gillian Graham said the SNP-led council “urgently need to fix this” to ensure young people’s safety.
She said: “I am particularly disturbed to read that inspectors found that young people’s safety and health was being placed at risk and some concerns were unnoticed by staff and management.”
Demanding a competent manager is placed at the home, she added: “Why wasn’t a temporary manager deployed?
“In addition to no leadership, staff didn’t have up-to-date training in restraint. Why had staff not received the correct training?
“Why were children being put at risk? It is simply not acceptable that these resources were not in place.
“It should never have come to this.”
A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: “The areas identified by the Care Inspectorate have been addressed fully and we are now confident that the care of the children has improved.”
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