merrion street

Ms Kathleen Lynch TD, Minister of State for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People today (Tuesday 14 May 2013) formally launched National Standards for Residential Services for Children and Adults with Disabilities.

The standards outline what is expected of a provider of services and what a person with a disability, his or her family, and the public can expect to receive from residential care services. They seek to ensure that vulnerable people with disabilities in residential services are safeguarded and protected, and their quality of life is enhanced.

In welcoming the publication of the standards, Minister Lynch said, “The launch of this excellent standards document is a significant step forward in terms of delivering consistent and high quality services for people with disabilities in residential services. The standards seek to ensure that the unique and complex needs of each individual child and adult with a disability in a residential service are met in an appropriate and effective manner by service providers and their staff.

‘Individualised Supports and Care’ is the first of eight key themes in the document and I am sure all key stakeholders in the disability sector will be happy to see this principle front and centre.

As a society, we owe a significant debt of gratitude to the dedication and commitment of voluntary agencies who have provided services for people with disabilities for many decades. With these new standards, we are setting a bar for service providers that we believe will drive quality care.

Today we are launching standards and in the months ahead we will produce the associated regulations required to underpin these standards in law with the aim of commencing the registration and inspection regime later this year. We will continue to work closely with HIQA in this regard.”