Strange deaths and inhumane conditions in a care facility for disabled children

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An expert audit revealed serious inadequacies in the operation of the structure – Among other things, “a large number of people living in the wards, minors along with adults, were found”

An ex-officio expert review of a disabled children’s care facility after a carer was fatally injured has revealed serious deficiencies in the operation of the facility, but also a second death that was kept in the dark by the facility’s management.

The specific structure came under the microscope of a mixed cadre of inspectors from the National Transparency Authority (NDA) and doctors and a social worker, during the period from January 2022 to November 2022 after incident of serious injury to a patient in November 2021 and beyond of death at the hospital where he was being treated.

With reference to the relevant actions of the Administration for assigning responsibilities for the incident, it was established that an employee was referred before the deadline before the Disciplinary Council.

The case is being investigated by the public prosecutor as part of a preliminary examination.

The second incident

The panel found that in December 2021, one month after the first incident, an incident between caregivers resulted in one of them being seriously injured and hospitalized for a month in the Intensive Care Unit.

After leaving the ICU, the patient returned to the facility where he died two days later. In a statement from the EAD, it is emphasized that doubts are raised regarding the management of the incident, which was not reported to the control echelon even though the patient ended up five days before the visit of the mixed echelon.

Also, the event and the death of the patient were not notified to the competent authorities as defined in the written provisions.

Inhuman living and working conditions

During the on-site inspection, the team also found that:

– There is no Operating Organization of the controlled entity, resulting in inconvenience and inefficiency at all levels.

– The controlled structure provides for the admission of minors with multiple disabilities and their stay until the age of 25. However, there are 81 foster children, of which only nine are minors.

– Minors live with adults without provision for spatial separation and special treatment. A large number of residents were found in the wards.

– People with autistic spectrum disorders are also admitted to this structure, by decisions of prosecutorial authorities. Especially in these cases, the provision of special programs of special treatments, speech therapy and special education is required, which are absent.

– Cases of foster care and adoption of foster children are minimal.

– The main inadequacies of the structure are found in the lack of human resources and the absence of systematic and specialized staff training. There are permanent and serious shortages in specialist staff and especially in care staff, which, combined with the seriousness and complexity of the situation of the patients, do not ensure safe living conditions, quality of services provided and make it difficult for the individualized approach/care of the patients. Burnout was observed in the existing staff.

– Sometimes, the auxiliary nursing/care staff provide their services in double shifts with continuous work of 16 hours, in violation of the existing legislation

– Casual workers do not provide the services to the carers/employers for whom they are hired but replace the care staff.

– Medical care is provided by concluding service contracts for a certain period of time. In the Agency’s private agreements with three private doctors, their hours of employment were not specified and the terms of the private agreement were not respected, as two of them were paid in excess of the specified amount. There is no Attendance Book of doctors to confirm their visits to the controlled entity.

– The operation of a “Quiet Room” (reduced stimuli/isolation area) was found, but this is not provided for by the existing provisions of organization and operation of the controlled entity.

– The structure does not have a Fire Protection Certificate.

The report drawn up by the EAD was forwarded, among others, to the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Domnas Michailidou, for the search for responsibilities of the Board of Directors of the body, to the prosecuting authorities for the criminal evaluation of the audits included in the report, and to the Labor Inspectorate to investigate any violations of labor legislation.

RES-EMP

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