A care centre worker has been suspended after two young men with special needs were found wandering along a busy road half a kilometre away.
Chiefs at Stewart’s Care have ordered a full inquiry after the incident at Rossecourt Adult Centre in Balgaddy, west Dublin in February of this year.
In April the same care provider issued an apology after a young man with Down Syndrome was left behind on a swimming trip and later found wandering alone beside the busy N4 dual carriageway.
Now Brendan Gorman, whose intellectually disabled son Ryan was one of the two young men who left the centre unaccompanied, is demanding answers.
He told the Sunday Mirror: “Ryan and another care user took the lift from the second floor to the ground floor and then exited the building.
“The gates were wide open. They walked past a construction site with heavy machinery exiting its compound on a regular basis.
“They passed a roundabout with full oncoming traffic, on up in the direction of a pub and shops to a bus stop.
“They could easily been killed or injured were it not for a quick thinking security guard who works at the local shops and spotted them.”
The security guard alerted staff at the centre to the situation and Ryan, who has an aggressive form of epilepsy as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder, was brought to safety along with his companion.
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Brendan, who gave up work 17 years ago to become his son’s full-time carer, fumed: “Had it not been for that security man’s fast actions I dread to think what could have happened.
“Ryan has been very happy with the service there until recently when staffing levels seem to have dropped.
“It’s like a nightmare very time I think of the distance he walked. This is my son, my flesh and blood.”
Stewart’s Care Limited runs a number of residential and day care centres for people with disabilities in west Dublin.
An inspection by the Health Information and Equality Authority (HIQA) in 2017 identified 14 incidents of potential abuse at its residential centre in Palmerstown.
Reports in 2017 and 2018 found 170 adults and children depending on its residential services had “a poor quality of life”.
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Inspectors detailed instances of unexplained bruising and injuries to residents, and observed residents asking for breakfast at 8am and not receiving any food until 10am.
Follow-up inspections by the health and social services watchdog found conditions have improved but it noted that “further progress” was required.
A spokesperson for Stewart’s Care said a thorough investigation would be conducted into the February incident and there had been “ongoing contact” with the families involved.
He told the Sunday Mirror: “We are treating this with the utmost seriousness. The bottom line is this is not acceptable and Stewart’s Care is determined to get to the bottom of it.
“We will take whatever action is needed on foot of an investigation.”
