Staff at special care centres miss thousands of days due to violence and sickness
special care centre staff have lost tens of thousands of days at work due to being harassed, injured or forced to take sick leave since 2021.
A briefing note on Tusla's residential care capacity said more than 10,000 days of work had been lost to sickness or harassment at three special care units in 2023 alone.
Detention in special care is a last resort for children aged 11 to 17 whose health and safety are at risk.
They can only be held in special care on the order of the High Court. Tusla, the child and family agency, is legally obliged to find a special care place for a child once such an order is made.
READ MORE
A national shortage of special care places has been exacerbated by a recruitment and retention crisis, leading to Tusla being criticised in the courts if and when it is unable to find a place for some of the country's most at-risk children.
According to the internal Tusla report – released by the agency under the Freedom of Information Act – by spring last year the total number of staff leaving special care was 'greater than the number of staff hired'.
Overall, between 2021 and last year, 168 staff had been hired, but 134 had left, with 37 transferring to different roles. Another two people retired, while one was unable to work due to ill health.
The report, prepared in April 2024, also noted that absenteeism among staff in special care was 'relatively high, largely driven by a significant number of incidents of violence, harassment and aggression in the context of escalation of a young person's behaviour because of their complex needs'.
The State has three special care units: Ballydowd and Crannog Nua in Dublin and Coovagh House in Limerick.
In 2023, there were a total of 10,199 days lost across all three units to violence, harassment, harassment, aggression or illness experienced by staff. Tusla said this included 2,240 days lost to assault of staff working in the three special-care units.
In 2022, the total for days lost to violence, harassment, aggression or illness was 8,981. In 2021 there were 10,019 days lost.
Reports of violence, harassment and aggression incidents to the
Health and Safety Authority
from the three special-care facilities and mainstream children's residential services increased from 27 in 2021 to 44 in 2023.
Staff in special care reported most incidents, accounting for 39 of the 44 incidents reported in 2023.
In the report, Tusla said that it was 'anticipated that for the foreseeable future, [Tusla] will continue to experience ongoing and significant difficulties in staff recruitment and retention which will impair its ability to make available beds in residential care'.
It also said: 'This is an ongoing and systemic problem, which is not confined to a simple question of financial resources or the responsibility of a single agency, but which relates to the need for additional resources, policy and legislative changes, creative thinking and an inter-agency and whole-of-government approach.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
All patients in Listeriosis outbreak are older people, says regulator
All cases connected to an 'extensive' outbreak of potentially fatal bacterial infection listeriosis are among older people, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has said. Last week, the authority recalled 141 lines of ready-made meals produced by Ballymaguire Foods in connection with an outbreak of the rare infection. The affected meals included chicken curries, lasagnes, bolognaises, pasta bakes, cottage pies and chow meins. Affected side dishes include ready-made mashed potatoes, carrots and peas, green cabbage and pilau rice. In an update on Thursday, the FSAI said there remains nine cases and one death associated with the outbreak. READ MORE 'The patients affected in this outbreak are all older adults aged over 60 years old,' it said. 'No cases in pregnant women have been notified to date. To ensure medical confidentiality, no further information on these patients can be disclosed.' According to the FSAI, listeriosis is typically acquired by eating contaminated food. However, the bacteria that cause illness – Listeria monocytogenes – are killed by cooking thoroughly. On average, there are between 14 and 22 cases of listeriosis reported in Ireland each year, the FSAI said. Symptoms of listeriosis can range from mild flu-like effects to gastrointestinal indicators such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Pregnant women, babies, older people and those who are immunocompromised are more vulnerable to severe infections. In pregnancy, listeriosis increases the risk of miscarriage or stillbirth. A national control outbreak team is investigating the outbreak, the FSAI added. On Sunday, the FSAI issued a second recall, this time relating to spinach and mixed leaves products produced by McCormack Family Farms , due to the detection of Listeria monocytogenes. However, the food safety authority said there is 'no evidence' this recall is linked with the outbreak connected to ready meals.
Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
Alcohol-abuse treatment figures highest in over a decade, study finds
There were more than 8,000 treatment cases for alcohol abuse in Ireland last year, the highest figures in more than a decade, a new report shows. According to the Health Research Board (HRB), 8,745 cases were recorded in 2024, where a case refers to a treatment episode and not one person. This means the same person could be counted more than once in a calendar year. Nearly one in three cases had a problem with other drugs as well as alcohol. Forty-four per cent of those treated were new cases. Cocaine was the most common additional drug used alongside alcohol at 71 per cent, a marked increase from 42 per cent in 2017. On the increase of alcohol and cocaine being used together, HRB senior researcher Dr Suzi Lyons said this is 'a real concern'. 'Mixing substances complicates treatment, can hinder recovery and can also be dangerous,' Dr Lyons said. The mixture 'increases toxicity to big organs', putting users at greater risk of stroke, heart attack, liver damage, violent behaviour, suicidal thoughts and sudden death, she added. In 2024, polydrug use was reported by almost one-third of alcohol treatment cases. Polydrug use is the use of more than one drug or type of drug by an individual either at the same time or sequentially. After cocaine (71 per cent), the most common drugs used alongside alcohol were cannabis at 49 per cent, benzodiazepines at 18 per cent and opioids at 10 per cent. The proportion of alcohol-dependent treatment cases, decreased from 72 per cent in 2017 to 56 per cent last year. Dependent drinking involves a cluster of behavioural, cognitive and physiological symptoms. Typically, it includes a strong desire to consume alcohol, impaired control over its use and a higher priority given to drinking than to other activities and obligations. Since 2017, one in two of those who consumed alcohol in the 30 days before treatment drank daily according to the HRB. The median age of alcohol treatment cases is 43 years old, and the majority are male, at 60 per cent. The median age at which individuals began drinking was 16 years old. The study found both men and women drink more in a typical day than is recommended in a week. Almost half are unemployed, and 8 per cent are homeless. Since 2017, among those who consumed alcohol in the 30 days before treatment, one in two drank daily during this time. Coinciding with the report's findings, Minister of State for the National Drugs Strategy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor announced a €1.8 million investment in alcohol-treatment services for 2026. The investment, which sees a rise from the €1 million allocated in 2025, will create 22 new posts for community alcohol services nationwide. Two new community services will be established in the Health Service Executive (HSE) Dublin and midlands and HSE Dublin and southeast regions. The funding will also facilitate the expansion of services in the HSE Dublin and northeast and HSE west and northwest regions. The HRB is the lead funding body for health research in Ireland.
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
When too many conductors result in cellular discord and cancer
What is your PhD about? I'm looking for new treatment strategies for lung cancer. The issue with lung cancer , and really all cancers, is that what drives the disease in one patient may not be the same in the next patient and this can result in different responses to therapy. For example, some people will respond better to chemotherapy than others. How is your project tackling this issue? My project at UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science looks at a subset of lung cancer that typically doesn't respond well to current treatments. READ MORE We want to find factors that are driving the cancer to grow in these subtypes so that we can create a treatment to go in and stop these drivers' activities and hopefully stop the disease in its tracks. In my project, the 'drivers' we are looking at are called long non-coding RNAs. What are long non-coding RNAs? Each cell in our body is a tiny, complex system made up of many components that have specific roles. Long non-coding RNAs can control this system by interacting directly with these cell components and guiding their activity. Unfortunately, sometimes these controllers go awry and can guide the cell components incorrectly, which leads to the cell becoming unhealthy, and potentially cancerous. It is only in the last two decades that scientists have uncovered the true importance of long non-coding RNAs, so it is a very new and exciting field of research. You recently won a speaking competition with a metaphor – tell us more. I was lucky enough to take part in the UCD Engage competition, where PhD researchers come up with metaphorical way of explaining their projects in an engaging and accessible manner. My project funders, Breakthrough Cancer Research, introduced me to patient advocates Marian O'Mahony, Mary Neville and Siobh Siobhánes, and together we curated the metaphor of an orchestra. How does it apply to your project? In essence, a healthy cell is like a perfect symphony orchestra producing beautiful music. Imagine there are too many conductors, they are all shouting over each other and causing havoc, ultimately losing control, and what was once a harmony is now a screeching tragedy. It's the same in the cell, if there are too many long non-coding RNAs, they can start to act a bit crazy and lose control of the cell components, and what was once a healthy cell can be driven to become an unhealthy, out-of-control, cancerous cell. So the question is, if we can fire the excess conductors in the orchestra, or get rid of the extra long non-coding RNAs in the cell, can we bring back our perfect symphony or our healthy cell? What do you hope the impact of your research will be? If we find the long non-coding RNAs that are responsible for driving the cancer progression in our subset of lung cancer, we can create a treatment to target it. This means personalised treatments for many patients that currently don't have many options. However, the process of drug discovery, testing and approval is extremely lengthy, meaning it will likely be some years before such a drug will be available clinically. My project is in essence a cog in the wheel of getting these treatments to patients, but each cog is important. What do you like to do outside of research? Sometimes the lab work can be quite stressful, so you need to have things outside the lab that you enjoy. For me, that's often spending time with family, heading to a pilates class or even doing a crossword – my grandad's love for The Irish Times crossword has been successfully passed down!
