Secure facility for vulnerable children 'unsafe and dangerous', damning report finds

Courts sent children to a “dangerous” secure facility where they faced excessive use of physical restraint and their safety was consistently compromised, a damning watchdog report has found.

The Care Inspectorate said young people housed at St Mary’s Kenmure in East Dunbartonshire were “not being cared for safely” and immediately banned any new admissions when it discovered conditions had only worsened since its last inspection – with children facing a serious risk to life.

The facility in Bishopbriggs is the largest of its kind in Scotland.

It cares for up to 24 young people aged between 11 and 18 years old, some of whom have been referred from the courts and children’s hearings, in four separate housing units.

According to the facility’s website, residents receive care and education from staff registered with the Scottish Social Services Council and General Teaching Council.

Following an unannounced inspection at the end of September, the watchdog issued St Mary’s with an improvement notice and an emergency prevention notice stopping anymore children from being sent to the facility.

Inspectors identified a number of key issues at St Mary’s Kenmure including the protection of children being compromised, high levels of physical restraint, a lack of effective recording and reporting around risk management and dangerously low levels of staff.

According to the Care Inspectorate, the secure unit relied on agency staff, who did not receive an induction, which compromised the young people’s safety with untrained employees.

“We found times where staffing levels were dangerously low and managers had failed to govern the rota to ensure safety,” the report states.

“This created unsafe situations where without the involvement of the police there could have been incredibly serious outcomes.”

Inspectors found that young people were breaching door security on a regular basis. It was also noted that staff were consistently under resourced when coping with complex needs.

The Care Inspectorate found that service users had been harmed after staff had used “unnecessarily high levels of physical restraint.” It was also noted that significant incidents had not been recorded or reported.

Accommodation consists of single bedrooms with an ensuite, however, during the unannounced visit it was found that toilet water had run into the sleeping area causing a damp smell.

The shared dining and living areas were also deemed insufficient.

The watchdog has given St Mary’s Kenmure until January 27 to make drastic improvements to the quality of the care it provides.

It comes after the secure facility failed to make the necessary changes following a previous damning report in November last year.

St Mary’s Kenmure failed to implement any of the four requirements the Care Inspectorate demanded.

At the time of the inspection, there were 18 children at the unit. As of Monday, October 28, there are 16 children at St Mary’s Kenmure.

It is one of only four units in Scotland now allowed to house young offenders under 18 years old alongside vulnerable children placed there for their wellbeing.

In September, all under-18s who were previously detained at Polmont Young Offenders Institution (YOI) near Falkirk were moved to secure care settings as the Scottish Government implemented its Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act, which contains provisions for ending the detention of under-18s in YOIs in Scotland.

Regulations ending new admissions of children to YOIs came into force on August 28.

A spokesperson for the unit said: “The management and staff of St Mary’s, Kenmure, recognise the need to improve the quality of care and protection of our children.

“As the Care Inspectorate’s report states: ‘Prior to this inspection, there had been significant change at both board and director level.

“This offered us some assurance about the service’s capacity for improvement’. We take the protection of our children very seriously and will take all steps necessary to meet the requirements outlined in the Care Inspectorate’s report which we believe provides an important foundation on which to build.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We were deeply concerned to learn of the issues identified by the Care Inspectorate during a recent inspection of St Mary’s Kenmure, an independent charitable provider of secure accommodation in Scotland.

“The safety and wellbeing of children in secure accommodation is paramount and the improvements identified in last month’s inspection are being taken forward at pace by St Mary’s board and management.

“We are working with St Mary’s and the Care Inspectorate to support the service and to monitor the improvement that the service has promised to undertake.”