Improvement action plan implemented at Troup House School after damning inspection report

An action plan is being implemented at Troup House School near Gardenstown after a damning Care Inspectorate inspection report evaluated it at the lowest rating of Unsatisfactory.

The unannounced inspection took place between March 13 and 31, 2023.

Troup House is run by Aspris Children’s Services and provides residential care and education to young people with additional support needs including social, emotional and mental health difficulties, autistic spectrum conditions and challenging behaviour.

To prepare for the inspection the Care Inspectorate reviewed the information about the service.

This included previous inspection findings, registration information, information submitted by the service and intelligence gathered since the last inspection.

In making its evaluations it spoke with five young people using the service and seven of their family, friends and representatives; spoke with 10 staff and management; observed practice and daily life; reviewed documents and spoke with visiting professionals.

Following the inspection a letter of serious concern was issued, which was followed by an improvement notice.

The inspection found:

• That the management team was not effective in ensuring the safety of young people.

• The Care Inspectorate was concerned safeguarding, child and adult protection concerns were not being reported.

• There was a lack of understanding of trauma and how to support young people when they were upset or distressed.
• There was a lack of staff to support young people.
• Conduct issues were not being addressed appropriately with staff.
• There were multiple medication errors, some of which involved controlled medication.
• The service continued inconsistently to notify the Care Inspectorate of incidents, staff misconduct and any allegations.

In the three evaluations of the report which were: How well do we support children and young people’s rights and wellbeing?; children and young people are safe, feel loved and get the most out of life; and leaders and staff have the capacity and resources to meet and champion children and young people’s needs and rights, the school was rated Unsatisfactory in all.

The inspection report said: “We found significant weaknesses which compromised the safety and wellbeing of people.

“We issued a letter of serious concern as urgent improvements were required to ensure people were safe and protected.

“The issues identified in the letter of serious concern we issued were not addressed effectively. We therefore issued an improvement notice.

“Since issuing the improvement notice we have been reassured by the response and actions of senior management.

“We are hopeful that this approach will support positive improvements within the service.”

A spokesperson for Troup House said: “We are committed to delivering the very best standard of support to those entrusted into our care, and to learning from this to ensure these issues are not repeated in the future.

“We take the Care Inspectorate’s findings very seriously and are working tirelessly to deliver the required improvements at Troup House as swiftly as possible.

“The implementation of a comprehensive action plan addressing all the areas of concern is nearing completion, and we remain in regular contact with the Care Inspectorate and other key stakeholders to communicate the progress being made.”

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