Ms Carol Grogan:

We have all said that the pandemic has had a significant impact across the board. However, the impact was amplified for the people who lived in residential services because families could not visit and restrictions meant that residents could not undertake the normal activities of life. We have not conducted any research on the impact from a regulatory point of view but we have looked at the levels of compliance. Our overview report highlights that there was a deterioration in some of the levels of compliance as a direct result of Covid, so that includes premises where maintenance was not maintained or kept up to date or, while understanding the restrictions, questioning what was done to ensure that rights were protected while people still lived in services. We inspected these services during Covid to ensure that residents' rights were being upheld, that there was safe quality care, and we took action where that care and support were not at an appropriate level.

In terms of trying to engage with residents and their families, we very much are of the view that it is the resident and whoever they wish us to speak with. So the resident might want to include their families, friends or an advocate but we also look to see who the provider includes in the decisions with that resident. I think that the capacity legislation that is due to commence shortly will support decision-making and will ensure that the will and preference of residents are respected where the residents do not have the capacity to make those decisions for themselves.

We are currently reviewing our resident questionnaires, which can also be filled by advocates or family members. We are undertaking a complete review of questionnaires, which we will pilot shortly and get feedback from residents to make them more user-friendly, easier to understand and make it easier for residents to give us feedback. All of that is in addition to speaking to residents.

I cannot comment on the sheltered housing issue because it does not fall within our remit. HIQA ensures that all of our tools are available on the web. Our standards are the national standards for people with disability and they are available on the web. While we might monitor against the standards that does not prevent any other service from using the standards as a benchmark to assess their own services. The tools that we use for inspection are available on the web so that providers know exactly how we will inspect them and guidance is available to them to ensure that they comply. The tools etc. are on the web for the centres that we regulate and there is nothing to prevent any other sector from using them as a benchmark.