A DISABILITY CHARITY has called for “swift and immediate action” after a new inspection report found a residential disability service provider failed to protect residents from abuse.

The report from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found that Sunbeam House Services had not protected residents from safeguarding incidents and that “inappropriate restrictive practices” were sometimes used “without any clear rationale”.

Some residents told inspectors that they did not feel safe in their homes, while others wished to move out and live on their own due to ongoing aggressive behaviour from other residents.

Inclusion Ireland said they were “deeply concerned” with Hiqa’s findings, saying that “no one should have to live their life feeling scared and unheard”.

This is not the first time concerns have been raised with Sunbeam House Services. It was among the providers with the highest rate of breaches recorded during Hiqa inspections when The Journal Investigates examined residential services last year.

Hiqa undertook 34 inspections across 28 centres operated by Sunbeam House Services between January and August last year.

A significant risk to residents’ safety, wellbeing and overall quality of life was found during 23 of the 34 inspections, according to the report. It also stated that poor governance was impacting the care provided to residents.

At 11 centres, inspectors found that residents were being supported to have a good quality of life.

Responding to the findings of the report, Derval McDonagh, CEO of Inclusion Ireland, said: “Where you remove choice and freedom about where you live, who you live with and how you live your life, you create the conditions for poor practice and in extreme circumstances abuse.”

This is far below what we should expect in 2025 in Ireland.

A spokesperson for Sunbeam House Services told The Journal Investigates: “We fully acknowledge our improvement is essential and we have worked closely with Hiqa to design our organisational improvement plan, with very clear and measurable actions.”

They also apologised to residents and their families for the shortcomings.

Large number of concerns identified

Between January 2022 and July 2024, 482 safeguarding notifications were submitted to Hiqa’s Chief Inspector, relating to services run by Sunbeam House Services.

Of these, 375 notifications were received from just 10 centres.

Many of these were related to Sunbeam’s failure in managing conflict between residents and the resulting impact on safety and welfare.

A spokesperson for the Department of Equality said: “HSE Disability Services will continue to work with the organisation to ensure that robust governance, quality and safety arrangements are in place and to ensure high quality services are provided ongoing to residents.”

They added that the Department is being kept briefed by the HSE on the matter.

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Speaking about the report, Hiqa’s Interim Deputy Chief Inspector, Ciara McShane, said unfamiliar and inconsistent staffing arrangements had impacted residents’ continuity of care and ability to build trust with staff.

Last year, The Journal Investigates revealed that staff shortages were significantly impacting charitable and nonprofit residential disability service providers.

The investigation found that the lack of staff resources was contributing to staff burnout and had a huge impact on the care received by residents.

Persistent staffing issues were also leading to poor inspection results, particularly in areas relating to governance and management of centres.

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Conor O’Carroll is an investigative reporter with The Journal Investigates.

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