Judgment was given against the Regulation Quality and Improvement Authority on Monday 28th January 2008 by Mr Justice Weatherup. A written Judgment is awaited in the case “JR19”. The case concerned an Applicant, a person under a disability, who brought the judicial review application to challenge the failure of the Regulation Quality and Improvement Authority (RQIA) to appropriately investigate an incident at a residential care facility. The Applicant was profoundly disabled and had been since birth. She required, amongst other things, supervision for eating and drinking. In 2005 she suffered a serious scalding injury at a residential care facility operated by an independent charity. That injury required in-patient hospital treatment. It appears that the person under the disability was given a hot cup of tea or coffee and then left unsupervised. As a consequence of same she poured the liquid over herself and the injury was not noticed until the following day.
The Applicant’s family sought to have a proper investigation and explanation of the injury suffered. An investigation was conducted into the matter by the service director of the independent charity. The family instructed Patrick Mullarkey of Campbell Fitzpatrick, Solicitors to lodge an application for Judicial Review. It was submitted on behalf of the family that the investigation was relatively perfunctory and lacked the appropriate degree of independence and rigour. Furthermore it was submitted on behalf of the Applicant that it did not provide the family with the explanation they sought about the injury in question. In finding for the family Mr Justice Weatherup advised that the purpose of any investigation is fourfold, to establish the facts in dispute, to identify the cause of the particularly injury in this case, to address remedial action required and to report to the Claimant the findings of the investigation. In this regard Mr Justice Weatherup found that there was a “gap” in the approach to the investigation both by the home and by the Regulation Quality and Improvement Authority.
Mr Justice Weatherup awarded costs against the RQIA. It is noted that the Applicant proceeded with the assistance of legal aid in this case.