Waterford IPA centre is inspected by HIQA

Birchwood House was subject to an unannounced inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) recently.

Birchwood House is an accommodation centre located in Ballytruckle, Waterford city. The centre has capacity to accommodate up to 145 people, including families, and single men and women.

At the time of inspection there were 127 people living there.

The inspectors found that residents were, for the most part, happy and safe living in the centre.

On a walk around the centre, the inspectors found that it was clean and well maintained. The facilities in the centre for children were well developed and met the needs of the younger population living there. 

There was a registered preschool and homework club on the grounds and the inspectors observed a friendly atmosphere while four children attended the homework club during the inspection.

Residents who spoke with the inspectors were happy with the facilities in the centre and many talked about how they liked the communal spaces.

When asked about their experience living at Birchwood, some residents said, “it’s perfect”, “I’m very happy here”, “it’s peaceful”, “it’s always quiet” and “the centre is the best”. 

The majority of residents said they were treated with respect and felt comfortable talking to staff.

In addition to speaking with residents about their experiences, the inspectors received seven completed questionnaires from adult residents.

Four of the seven respondents indicated they felt happy living in the centre, while three did not. Of these, two indicated that they did not feel adequately protected.

A small number of residents said they were not comfortable raising issues with the staff team.

The centre was found to be ‘compliant’, ‘substantially compliant’ or ‘partially compliant’ in all areas of inspection, which include areas such as accommodation, food, protection and governance.