Healthcare Company Ordered to Stop Operating in Northern Ireland
A healthcare company based in England has been instructed to cease its operations in Northern Ireland after multiple complaints were raised concerning its management of social care patient assessments.
Liaison Care is a private consultancy firm responsible for reviewing domiciliary care packages in Northern Ireland, including those of adults transferred from Muckamore Abbey Hospital.
Two families with relatives who had been patients at the facility lodged complaints regarding the manner in which assessments were conducted.
The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) has now mandated the firm to discontinue all activities in Northern Ireland, citing the distress caused to patients and their families.
NI reported on Wednesday that numerous complaints had been made against the company.
On Thursday, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt stated that "very serious" questions needed to be addressed regarding the use of the company.
Liaison Care has been collaborating with health trusts with the objective of reducing costs.
According to the company's website, its services are commissioned and if they do not generate savings for NHS trusts, they will not charge.
Earlier this month, NI revealed that the Belfast Health Trust had sent a letter to a non-verbal man, 29-year-old Aaron Brown, informing him that his care package was to be reviewed by Liaison Care.
His father, Glynn Brown, described the letter as "grossly offensive".
The trust subsequently issued an apology and acknowledged that his son should not have received the correspondence.
Earlier this week, another parent whose son was abused while a patient at Muckamore described the experience as "traumatising" when her disabled son's care manager was asked to demonstrate over a video call how he reacts when distressed, including how he bites people.
This request was made during a three-hour call with Liaison Care, which was reviewing the care of Timothy Jones, 31, who has severe learning difficulties.
Timothy was a patient at Muckamore for 12 years. His mother, Dawn, provided testimony to a recent public inquiry into the ill-treatment of patients at the hospital, stating that her son had been abused there.
'Distress caused'
The Belfast Trust has apologized to the Jones family and stated that it is working with the company "so that this does not happen again".
However, on Friday, the RQIA announced that it had "directed Liaison Care to cease and desist from its activities in Northern Ireland with immediate effect".
"In recent days, RQIA has become aware, including through contact from concerned families, of the commissioning by HSC Trusts of Liaison Care, a company which RQIA understands is based in England, to carry out activities in relation to services being provided to people in Trust care," it said.
Liaison Care is not currently registered with the authority, the RQIA added.
"RQIA also has concerns having learned that a number of individuals and their families have been contacted by the company, and is aware of the distress this has caused.
This forms an important part of RQIA's ongoing enquiries into the nature of the work being undertaken, including in relation to the care and treatment of individuals subject to mental health legislation," it said.
The RQIA further stated that issuing directions to organisations to cease operating is a necessary part of its statutory regulatory role and that it typically issues a small number of such directions each year.
It also indicated that it will be engaging with Liaison Care.
NI has contacted Liaison Care for a response.
Analysis: 'Raises significant questions'
Glynn Brown and Dawn Jones, both parents of adult sons with severe learning disabilities, told NI that they had "never seen or heard the likes" of the questions asked by Liaison Care.
Both expressed shock at how insensitive the panel was and noted that the questions were not patient-centred.
Dawn Jones spent more than three hours on a Zoom call regarding her son's care, with the Liaison Care panel located in England while she was at home in Belfast.
It is understood that many health officials, including some within the RQIA, were unaware of the company's activities in Northern Ireland.
There are numerous significant questions, including who in Northern Ireland was responsible for commissioning this company and what investigations were conducted into the work it has performed elsewhere in the UK.
