St. Michael's House Annual Report 2022

Annual Report 2022

ST. MICHAEL'S HOUSE

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON

The impact of Covid was still being felt during 2022. Service users, families and staff were all impacted. However, everyone did their best in order to maintain a quality service provision. Staff showed huge resilience and commitment to support service users. Service users responded amazingly well to innovative service provision exemplified by the move towards the online Activity Hub with people turning to technology to remain connected.

Gradually, during the year many services were able to return to normal due to the efforts of everyone involved. Many day service centres produced newsletters during the year which showed people enjoying a wide range of activities in various settings.

A huge amount of time and effort was spent by the Executive Management Team and the Board in producing the St. Michael’s House Strategic Plan 2022-2026. This 5-year plan is very ambitious, with a significant amount of good progress having already been achieved as a result of the hard work and dedication of St. Michael’s House staff.

During the year Professor Anthony Staines stepped down as the Chairperson. I would like to thank Anthony for his tremendous work over the years as Chairperson and for the way he guided the Board to support the work of the Executive Management Team during his tenure.

I was appointed as Chairperson of this great organisation in July 2022. As Chair, I will endeavor to work to the best of my ability to support my fellow Board members and the CEO, Liz Reynolds and her team to continuously improve service provision for the people we support. St. Michael’s House works very closely with our key stakeholder, the HSE, in order to ensure financial stability no more so than in 2022 where the cost-of-living crisis had a significant impact on our finances. As you will see from our

accounts the HSE provided the required additional funding to reflect our increased costs. The Board is very appreciative of the continued support of the HSE.

Work on establishing the St. Michael’s House Fundraising Foundation continued throughout the year. The Board is pleased to report that the Foundation has now received charitable status and we hope to have it fully up and running in 2023.

Overall, despite the many challenges that St. Michael’s House faced during 2022 the CEO, the Executive Management Team and all the staff pulled together to do what it does best - to provide person centered services to individuals and work with the participation of families and careers to achieve positive outcomes. The Board of Directors and myself would like to acknowledge this and say thank you. We look forward to continuing to improve our services for the benefit of all our service users and their families.

Ciarán Bolger Chairperson

St Michael’s House are delighted to highlight artwork from adults who use our services throughout the Annual Report 2022.

SMH integrative and creative art sessions provide numerous benefits to our service users including building self-esteem, enhancing communication and growing social skills by providing an outlet for them to explore their creativity, discover new hobbies and boost self-confidence.

Our front cover art was created by Darren Kelly from Cromwellsfort and Templeogue services. Darren is very passionate about his art and makes his choices by using his eyes to select images, places and colours. He then uses his foot to paint incredible art pieces. We are delighted to showcase his art as our Annual Report 2022 cover.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REVIEW

Dear all,

As we approach the end of another challenging but successful year, I would like to extend my gratitude to each and every one of you for your unwavering support and dedication to St. Michael’s House. The completion of the annual report gives us the opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments of 2022 and help us focus on the future.

Firstly, I would like to personally thank Professor Anthony Staines, who has served as our Chairperson for the past two years. Anthony’s vision, commitment, and invaluable guidance have been instrumental in shaping our success and our five-year strategic plan.

It is my great pleasure to welcome our new Chairperson, Ciarán Bolger, who brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to our organisation. I have no doubt that Ciarán will lead the Board into a new era of growth and innovation and I am looking forward to working with him.

As we turn our attention to the future, it was with great pride we commenced the first year of our 2022 -26 five-year strategic plan. Building upon our strong foundation, this plan is designed to position us at the forefront of the sector and drive us toward sustained success. Our strategic plan places service users at the forefront, while also focuses on the high value we have for our staff. It outlines a clear roadmap for growth, as well as the development of a Rights Based Service for the individuals we support.

2022 saw the expansion of our Executive Management Team through reconfiguration with the creation of two new posts dedicated to our Estates and our Support Services. This

has enabled the organisation to give specific focus and expertise within these areas and, as you will see in this report, there were significant developments in 2022.

As part of our commitment to participation with service users, we initiated a platform for the people we support to be heard at senior level and have a direct contribution to shaping their service. It has been an invaluable process for all involved and will continue to be developed and reviewed in 2023. We remain committed to fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement for everyone we support. Thank you to our service users and their families, our volunteers and friends for their continuous support of the organisation.

I would like to thank all the members of the Executive Management Team for their inclusive and collaborative approach with both service users, staff and families, and their commitment to excellence within St Michael’s House.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the staff for their hard work, loyalty, and invaluable contribution to our success. We are honoured to have you as part of our journey, and I look forward to working together again in 2023.

Liz Reynolds | CEO

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM (EMT) & SERVICE USER FORUMS

In 2021 St Michael’s House engaged with all stakeholders in the development of the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. It was recognised that meaningful consultation was needed with its’ most important stakeholder, the people who use our services, to shape the five-year plan. This was the first opportunity for many people who use our services across the whole organisation to be involved in the strategic planning consultation process for St Michael’s House.

In 2022, building on the success of the consultation process, the EMT Service User Forum was established.

The purpose of this forum is for adults in our services to:

• Guide and advise from their experience - what is working well and not working well in their service.

• For EMT to engage in dialogue with members about the work they are doing and their plans.

• To ensure the views of the adults who use the service are reflected in policy and future plans in how services are delivered.

• To act as a voice for people who use the service and raise issues that are important to them.

• To make members of the forum aware of the differing needs and expectations of St Michael’s House various stakeholders (e.g.) HSE, HIQA and Government departments.

• Meetings are held every two months online through the Activity Hub Platform and face to face meetings.

Service users from over 17 centres met with the CEO and members of the EMT online via the Activity Hub platform and in-person. This is an important process in the implementation of Goal 2participation of service users and families - in St Michael’s House Strategic Plan 2022 – 2026.

Director, Operations: David Dunne

ADULT SERVICES

Director, Service Area 1: Conor Kenny Director, Service Area 2: Elaine Teague

Highlights from Strategic Plan

The launch of the St. Michael’s House strategy provided Adult Services with a framework to identify areas for improvement and development. In Adult Services there was a significant focus on supporting individuals to access their day service in line with their will and preference. We have also worked on reviewing and reconfiguring our day services to make best use of the capacity within existing services. Another focus for Adult Services in 2022 was to improve compliance levels during HIQA inspections.

New Services across Adult Services

2022 brought exciting new services across SMH for our service users. We expanded our Abhainn ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) services across the service area with the opening of Dublin Road and Holywell in Swords Co. Dublin and, Edenmore, Dublin 5. A second Abhainn service was opened in Balbriggan in North County Dublin, and Nutgrove in Dublin 14 became a satellite service to those leaving Starbrook throughout the year.

A new Hub was opened in Northwood, Dublin 9 in September 2022 supporting five new school leavers in the service. The service users really enjoy this hub model where they all travel independently into Northwood and enjoy meaningful courses and activities within their community.

Challenges in 2022

In 2022, staff vacancies were a key challenge for adult services. Having the right staff, with the right skills, in the right place at the right time is key, and the focus has shifted towards staff retention.

Service User Stories/ Highlights of 2022

A new service in Beaumont, Dublin 9 opened its doors as an individualised service in June. The home consists of three bedrooms, a dining room, sitting room and kitchen with two gardens to the front and rear of the house. The service supports one resident to live their life the way that they choose. The

service user, with support from staff has been able to create a homely environment and a Day Service

Key Achievements

• Additional day placements provided

• Improved HIQA compliance

• Improved communication with staff through newsletters and forums

• Improvement in minimum required training compliance

• Upgrades to residential houses to bring them in line with the required standards.

• Completion of the Abhainn ASD Review

• New bus provided for three services - this has reduced bus rental costs of €900 per month.

Hub/Activity Room within the house. The resident is able to choose what activities they would like to do weekly. These include Zumba, Lámh, swimming, bowling, watching movies, walking in the community and shopping. The service user really enjoys exploring new places to visit, with a special love for the beach. At present we are working together to develop the garden area by planting shrubs, plants and flowers. The resident is looking forward to the summer weather so they can sit and enjoy the garden. The service reflects the resident living arrangements and lifestyle, needs, preferences, values, culture, dreams and goals, while promoting independence and inclusion in the local community.

• Rogha was the named service for proceeds from the sale of the organisations Christmas Card sales. Proceeds will go towards the purchase of a new bus.

In October 2022 another resident moved into a different individualised service. The resident’s new home was designed and renovated to meet their individual needs and the resident now enjoys the comforts of their choosing and likening. The location is also close to their day service and they enjoy having access to their local community. One of our service users, Mary, reached her 100 Milestone Club with her Park Run - which means she has completed 100 5k park runs. She has a personal best of 38 minutes! Alan starred in a new campaign to promote physical activity with Sports Ireland. His ad is visible on the digital billboard in the Shopping Centres for all to see. Sinead, who works in Facebook one day a week has also trained as a Barista and has another part-time job in a cafe. Another resident recently went on holidays to Florida with his family and reported to really enjoy his time. In 2022 service users started to enjoy getting back to activities and holidays that they all missed for so long. Some of our residential centres ran summer programmes to catch up on activities and events that residents missed out on during Covid such as: the Titanic Experience, the Joe Dolan statue in Mullingar, the National Stud Farm, the Japanese Gardens, the Delta Sensory Gardens, Bray, Glendalough, Newbridge Silver Museum, shopping trips, ice cream in Skerries, Carlingford Lough, train trips, Newbridge Farm, live theatre performances… to name a few!

FAST FRIENDS

SMH Fast Friends initiative was developed in 2018 to create more opportunities for adults in St Michael’s House to socialise and meet new people in a structured by fun way. As the initiative grew more popular and several successful friendships were formed and reignited, the Fast Friends committee opened it out to include other disability services in the greater Dublin area. Today, Fast Friends has developed into a hugely successful platform facilitating opportunities for adults with disabilities to socialise with their peers and create meaningful relationships.

During Covid-19, Fast Friends came to a sudden halt and was greatly missed by everyone who attended these much-anticipated events. In 2022, as Government restrictions lifted the committee worked tirelessly to re-establish Fast Friends for everyone and were delighted to see the return of old, and new, faces wishing to reignite their old relationships and excited to meet new people and forge new friendships.

Fast Friends highly anticipated events are always a resounding success. Events include Valentines parties, speed-dating events, Summer Luau’s, St Patrick’s Day events, Christmas parties and the everpopular Halloween parties.

Joe and Geraldine

Joe and Geraldine had known each other for a long time as they were both members at the same bowling club and choir. At one of the very first Fast Friends events, Joe and Geraldine re-connected and started dating. One year later, at the Fast Friends Valentines party, Joe got down on one knee and proposed to Geraldine and she said “Yes!”. The crowd cheered them on as they danced to their song, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis. They still attend every Fast Friends event and are busy planning the next stage of their lives together.

IRISH HOSPICE SEED GRANT MEMORY MOSAIC PROJECT

Supported by the Creative Ireland Programme, the Irish Hospice Foundation Seed Grant programme aims to inspire and support the work of organisations who wish to creative initiatives to reflect and remember friends and family members who have passed.

Supported by staff, service users in Moyle day services in Glasnevin, Dublin 11, applied for a seed grant to create mosaics to remember their friends from their service who have passed away over the last number of years.

On 22 February 2022, Lynn Leggett, social care worker in SMH and mosaic artist, Aidan Byrne, guided service users in creating mosaics to adorn the centre’s memorial garden in their memory. The process of creating these artistic pieces proved extremely therapeutic and enjoyable for everyone who took part.

“We had a fantastic day. The Irish Hospice Foundation’s preparatory workshop for staff on bereavement facilitated conversations with our service users around grief while creating the mosaics. This was an integral part of the project and made the day an incredibly meaningful and worthwhile experience.”

The finished mosaics have now been installed in Moyle’s memorial garden and a commemoration service for service users, staff, family and friends to remember and celebrate lost loved ones was held over the summer months.

Lynn Leggett (SCW, Moyle)

CHILDREN & YOUNG PERSONS SERVICES

Director, Tracey McKenna

Key Achievements

Respite

In 2022, both Adult's and Children's Respite services restored offers of support to families to prepandemic levels. In 2022, all three respite houses underwent refurbishment. Two new accessible vehicles were purchased for dedicated use within respite services. Additional devices were purchased to support service users to increase opportunities to partake in online activities, share resources and improve communication.

Thanks to the HSE National Lottery Funding 2022 and local unit fundraising, Ailesbury Respite were delighted to use funds to renovate their outdoor area. This garden space has provided an opportunity for all respite users to explore and engage with their senses and to enjoy a relaxing and enjoyable space. We are all extremely excited and grateful for everyone's support in this project and especially Dublin Gardens who completed all the work. It will be an invaluable space to all Ailesbury service users while in respite. Ailesbury was also very lucky to have some volunteers from the Corporate Volunteers Programme. KPMG visited the service and worked together with staff and service users. They helped with preparing the garden, cleaning the windows and painting some of the bedrooms. It was lovely day, and everyone enjoyed the refreshments. We are hoping that Ailesbury will be lucky enough to get some volunteers again!

Network Clinical Services

Throughout 2022 the Children’s Disability Network teams were kept busy as they continued to support families despite challenges in relation to recruitment and retention which impacted on their ability to support children and families and to reduce waitlists. At the end of 2022, there were 1,308 children open to CYP services and 593 children on the waitlist to the level required. A total of 272 children were taken off waitlists in 2022 and 554 new Individual Family Service Plans (IFSPs) completed. In 2022, the teams delivered over 8,000 individual interventions and over 2,500 group interventions as well as completing IFSPs, developing pathways responding to queries and providing a keyworking service. Significant work also went into the development of our network teams at specialist level. In February

2022 CYP services established a Feeding, Eating, Drinking and Swallowing (FEDS) clinic which is an interdisciplinary support for children with complex needs relating to the physical processes of eating and drinking. Children and families are supported in the clinic by their FEDS SLT and paediatrician with support from Dietetics, Nursing and other CDNT team members as required to support holistic goal planning and integrated management of their FEDS needs. To date, the clinic has offered 44 clinics to support over 30 children and their families with complex FEDS needs and facilitate safe and enjoyable experiences with eating and drinking.

Pilot Project CYP in partnership with the Open Training College (OTC)

In 2022, SMH CYP services were commissioned by the HSE to carry out a pilot project usefulness of the OTC as a platform for hosting ongoing training and supports for CYP families. Eight webinars were launched on the platform and account details provided to over 1,000 families across SMH and HSE networks as part of a pilot project. A full evaluation report will be available early in 2023. Webinars included:

1. Top tips for communication (for the under 5’s)

2. Understanding your child’s behaviour

3. Benefits and entitlements

4. Parents well-being

5. Picky eaters

6. Top tips for handwriting

7. Community Supports

8. Maintaining exercise in teenage years

Family Engagement

Towards the end of 2022, the CYP Service began the first part of the process of establishing Family Forums in our four network teams. This process was led by the Director of Children and Young Persons Service with support from Catherine Rafter, Principal Social Worker, an independent facilitator, each Children’s Disability Network Manager and their administrative teams. Throughout this process of establishing Family Forums, we aim to hold in mind the “spirit” of the family forums as based on the principal of ‘co-design’ with parents: sharing power; building trust and authentic participation over time. Parents are seen as experts of experience and the service is open and ready to listen to that experience. The aim of the Family Forums is to build relationships and trust over time in order to have collaborative conversations and develop meaningful ways of working together.

Keyworking

Throughout 2022, keyworking was made available to a majority of families in CYP services. All team members have been trained in how to implement the model and ongoing information & training sessions will be provided throughout 2023. Work has started on moving this training to the OTC platform. An information leaflet for families is in development and will be launched. CYP services intend to evaluate satisfaction with keyworking across stakeholder groups in 2023.

Preschool Services

Circle Time preschool moved to a larger premises at the start of 2022. The new classroom required a lot of work to get it ready for the preschool to move into , including flooring, tracking hoist, storage furniture, screens, multisensory equipment. This allowed the classroom to be divided into different zones for communications, art , sensorial play, and a large area for gross motor movement. The room also has space for the children’s standers and walkers. Everyone is delighted with the new classroom and are enjoying the new set up.

From January to June 2022, 33 children availed of preschool support service each had a preschool support worker who accompanied them to attend an Early Years Education setting in their local communities. From September to December 2022, 29 children availed of the service. In total the service provided support to 38 Early Years Education settings (preschools, montessori’s, creches) during 2022.

Horizons Project:

Throughout 2022, 38 people engaged in independent living training with the Horizons project. Horizons is supporting SMH to deliver services in line with New Directions and the Assisted Decision Making Act. Supports offered included making choices and plans, accessing education training and maximising independence. Consultation through “My Voice Matters“ for the SMH 5 year Strategic Plan has allowed service users to ask the questions about their future living options and to wonder who will they live with and where might that be. Horizons has a role to promote future living options and share information about what steps are necessary to begin the process. Horizons has developed the programme and made outside connections with a number of external agencies and government funded agencies. They are building on partnerships with Northside

Partnership, MABS, and Connections Arts Centre. Establishing these connections is essential to keep costs down and use resources from government agencies that are already in operation.

Positive Approaches Monitoring Group

The CYP Positive Approaches Monitoring Group (PAMG), which oversees and monitors the use of restrictive practices in CYP Services reviewed a total of 51 approval requests of restrictive practices in 2022 from across CYP services. The biggest challenge to CYP PAMG is making sure all applications have timely access to clinical support and intervention and that restrictive practices are reviewed on a regular basis to consider the requirement for continued use.

The committee developed an information pack for staff to promote the development of travel skills with the aim of reducing the number of restrictive practices used in transport, such as bus harnesses. An audit tool was developed to support St. Michael’s House Special National Schools to record and report restrictive practices to their boards of management.

In 2022, PAMG began work with UCD on a research project that aims to understand the perspectives of staff on the use and oversight of restrictive practices in the organisation.

Special National Schools

SMH is a patron body to six Special National Schools (SNS) in north and south Dublin. Over 300 children attend these six schools.

In 2022, recognising the central importance of schools to SMH, the SMH Board established a Schools

Patron Committee chaired by Máirtín Mac Aodha, a member of the SMH Board of Directors. The patron group is comprised of members of the SMH Board of Directors, SMH senior management and the SMH Education Officer. This committee is supporting the Patron and Schools Boards of

Management to effectively deliver on their respective roles and responsibilities as defined by the Department of Education and Skills.

In 2022, Baldoyle and Ballymun schools appointed new school principals – Anna Lombard Perito (Baldoyle) and Caroline Sheill (Ballymun).

In June 2022, SMH was approached about opening up a satellite school for 24 children aligned to our Foxfield school. This satellite school located at Drinan, Swords, Co. Dublin, opened its doors in November 2022. A huge amount of work went into setting up this school in a short time period. Huge congratulations to all concerned, in particular to Sandra Wallace (Principal), Shane Mc Namara (Deputy Principal) and Paula O’Brien (Board of Management Chairperson and SMH Education Officer).

There are three major building projects currently live with the Department of Education and Skills for SMH schools (Foxfield SNS, Ballymun SNS and Skerries SNS). Two further building projects are proposed in Baldoyle SNS and Grosvenor SNS.

Throughout the year, our schools have been very active. A sample of these activities can be found by visiting our schools websites:

• St. Michael’s House Ballymun Special National School , Ballymun, Dublin 9

• St. Michael’s House Special National School Baldoyle, Dublin 13

• St. Michael’s House Raheny Special National School Raheny, Dublin 5

• St. Michael’s House Foxfield Special National School Foxfield, Dublin 5

• St. Michael’s House Skerries Special National School Skerries, County Dublin

• St. Michael’s House Grosvenor Special National School

Leopardstown County Dublin

HOME SHARINGCARING IN YOUR OWN HOME

St Michael’s House Home Sharing initiative empowers children and adults with a disability to have dignified relationships and to be meaningfully included in their communities whilst enjoying a supported short break.

Caring for a child or adult with a learning disability can be demanding and stressful at times. When carers get a break they can take time for themselves to relax, spend time with other members of the family. Home Sharing is an innovative scheme developed by SMH whereby people in the community are recruited, assessed, trained and supported to provide short breaks in their homes, for a person with a disability.

There are three different types of Home Sharing supports available to families:

• Home Sharing “Short Breaks” whereby families provide short breaks (e.g.) day care breaks, short overnight breaks or breaks over holiday periods

• Home Sharing “Contract Families” whereby families with significant experience in supporting people with complex needs provide short breaks

• Home Sharing “Shared Living” provides full-time care to a child or adult with a disability, similar to a fostering placement.

St Michael’s House have a dedicated Home Sharing team who provide full training, 24/7 support and a generous allowance paid for every visit.

The Martin Family

Gerry and Romy Martin have been involved with St Michael’s House Home Sharing initiative for many years and welcomed Tom into their family since 2015. Tom is a wonderful, fun-loving and energetic 12 year old boy who loves the outdoors, playing cards, going for drives and is very sociable. He has complex medical needs and is dependent on his carers for all activities of daily living.

“Tom is a very much loved member of the Martin family and has brought so much joy and fun to our household.”

Tom loves spending time with Gerry, Romy and their children.

If you would like to find out more about Home Sharing contact homesharing@smh.ie

ESTATES

Director, Diarmuid Devereux

Key Achievements

In March 2022, a new Director of Estates was appointed and commenced in the role. The estates directorate are now responsible for the maintenance, upkeep and development of all properties, the management of St. Michaels House housing stock, fire safety in the built environment and the reporting on our energy usage (in accordance with our requirements under the Climate Action Bill). Key performance indicators were identified and set out in the St. Michaels House Strategic Plan 20222026. These included the implementation of five year Housing and Properties Plans. One of the main focusses in 2022 was the development of procedures for ensuring compliance with HIQA plans in our designated centres. These processes and the subsequent assignment of resources greatly improved the speed and quality of works completed in response to HIQA non-compliance notices.

A new role - Housing and Energy Manager - was created through reconfiguration, which was key in developing these processes, and coordinating with our service users, the staff in our designated centres, and the technical teams and contractors on the improvement works. This role also meant that St. Michaels House now had a person responsible for driving an energy action plan across the organisation.

Fire safety also moved over to the Estates directorate in 2022, although there remains a crossover with the Quality, Safety and Risk directorate. This enables a more focused approach to fire safety in the built environment, and enable for improvement works to be included for in estates work plans.

Challenges for 2022

Resources remain a challenge for the estates directorate. Given the large quantity of buildings, and their age and condition, there is a substantial plan of works needed to modernise our properties, especially the day services and offices. This plan needs to be suitably funded and staffed. A five year properties plan will be developed in 2023, which will map out a plan that will enable some priority projects to be delivered. The main challenge for 2022 was the completion of improvement works in our designated centres for HIQA compliance plans. This required the majority of our internal technical

services team, and external contractors focusing on works in these residential settings, to try meet HIQA deadlines. Going forward, there needs to be an appropriate focus on our day centres and offices.

Service User Stories/Highlights of 2022

One of the highlights of 2022 was the completion of a number of capital projects for some of our housing units, including Ratheanna, Garvagh, Ballygall, Cromwellsfort, Ardmore and Glenmalure. These projects have greatly enhanced these houses. The largest project completed in 2022 was the improvement works to the designated centre to the first floor in Baldoyle. These works involved upgrades to fire stopping and subsequent decorative improvements.

In addition, several other houses received upgrades, including kitchen replacements, bathroom upgrades, energy upgrades, and new flooring and painting. All of these works have had a positive impact in people’s homes. A full schedule of further works on our housing units for 2023 has been developed in December, and commenced rollout in January 2023.

Projects 2022

Housing capital projects at:

• Glenmalure

• Ballygall

• Garvagh

• Ratheanna

• Ardmore Crescent

• Cromwellsfort Avenue

• Parkview Navan

• Kennington Road

• Boroimhe

• Various other minor works to housing

• Fire safety upgrade works to the Baldoyle designated centre.

• Fire alarm and emergency lighting upgrades across a number of houses, Ballymun HQ building and Templeogue Centre.

• Installation of a backup generator to the CARA facility in Belcamp.

• Over 5500 reactive maintenance requests responded to and closed out.

SUPPORT SERVICES

Director, Tara Molloy Communications

In 2020 , a new directorate was created in EMT. This new role has responsibility for Support Services in SMH, to include IT, Communications, GDPR/FOI, Leisure Centre, Activity Hub, Project Management (as assigned to the DOSS by CEO) & Fundraising.

In 2022, the Communications team continued to effectively communicate the impact of changing government Covid guidelines on SMH services across the organisation and to families, carers and stakeholders.

The Communications team continued to engage the SMH community through official social media channels by highlighting service user and organisational achievements, raising awareness and advocating on behalf of the organisation while aligning its key messaging with the vision, mission and values of St Michael’s House.

Some highlights were videos for International Nurses Day, International Day of People with Disabilities, International Women’s Day and the Buddy Up fundraising campaign series with the Omni Day Service Christmas Carols hosting the most views of any video on the SMH Youtube channel in 2022 (445 views).

Posts highlighting service user achievements continue to engage SMH audiences with the most popular posts of 2022 including Ciara from Adare Hub’s academic achievements, Omni Christmas Choir, the triumphant return of the ever-popular Leisureplex Christmas Bowl and SMH innovative Recruitment Days in Ballymun HQ.

As of December 2022, all St Michael’s House social media channels had increased in followers:

The team also supported SMH departments develop communication tools to support service delivery to and for staff, service users and families including: CDNT brochures, campaign planning, flyers, email communications, information posters, easy to read communications, newsletters, media, video production and interviews. The Communications team supported the HR department with an online communication campaign to advertise their recruitment campaigns throughout 2022.

Information Technology

The IT department were busy in 2022 working on various projects to support the IT infrastructure in SMH. The hybrid model of working has increased the demand for IT devices and support. Some of the projects in 2022 included:

• Finance (Dynamics) Server Isolation

• Windows 10 Major Version Upgrade

• Installation of new file backup and server replication system (ECKO) with cloud redundancy

• Migration of the SMH e-mail system from on-site Exchange 2010 to Exchange 365 using an intermediate Exchange 2016 server

• The IT department secured approx 100K euro from the HSE to buy hardware (laptops and chrome books) in November 2022

• MPIO- My personal Information Online - The MPIO system replaces the CIS system which had to be shut down due the HSE cyber attack. This new system was supported and became operational by the IT department.

IT is also an enabler of the Strategic Plan 2022-26. There are a number of key milestones for the department over the next five years. The Strategy is available to view on our website.

Fundraising

In 2022 the Fundraising Department continued to host events in line with government Covid guidelines, including the Dawn to Dusk Daily Dips. SMH supporters took the plunge into the sea setting personal challenges for themselves to raise funds for their chosen centres and residentials.

The ever-popular annual Bring a Book, Buy a Book was once again held online and participants where encouraged to virtually pass books onto colleagues and friends for the month of March. The Fundraising & Communications teams utilised SMH social media channels to advertise, recruit and encourage participants to use their social networks to raise funds for St Michael’s House.

After a brief hiatus due to Covid, SMH were delighted to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the annual Jill Donnelly Golf Classic in April 2022. Over 40 teams teed off in aid of St Michael’s House in Milltown Golf Club raising over €80,000 through teams, tee/green sponsorships, raffles and auctions. Since it’s inception, the dedicated Jill Donnelly Committee has raised over €1.5 million for St Michael’s House and the Board of Directors and Executive Management Team would like to thank each and every member who has worked and dedicated their time to making this event a huge success.

In June 2022, over 70 Mighty Mná participated in the VHI Women’s Mini Marathon on behalf of St Michael’s House. It was great to have so many staff, service users and their family choose St. Michael’s House as their charity of choice for this event.

The Club Draw Car Draw also took place in June 2022 and was won by long-time supporter and parent, Cecil Pollack.

SMH are extremely grateful to Noel Hughes’s sons who have continued their father’s legacy and hosted the Noel Hughes Golf Classic in September 2022. Since its inception in 2009 this event has raised over €100,000 for Castle and Sallowood services. The 2022 event raised over €17,000 in memory of Noel.

The Corporate Champion Programme

In 2022 our Corporate Champion Programme recommenced post-Covid and welcomed 18 companies hosting 170 volunterers out to our services. Our corporate champions volunteered their time and skills to complete several garden makeovers - all the gardens looked beautiful upon completion and summer ready for our service users and their families to enjoy. We received over €11,000 in donations

from the 18 companies that participated in the programme meaning all 2022 projects were self-funded. Launched in 2010, our Corporate Volunteer Programme has proved very successful. To date, over 4,000 volunteers from some of Ireland’s biggest companies have visited one or more of our 170 services within St. Michael’s House. The overall feedback highlighted that volunteers experienced a sense of fulfilment and a clear education of disabilities within their local communities. The management and staff of SMH are extremely grateful to all the volunteers who so generously gave their time and hard work to improve St. Michael’s House services.

Project Management

Strengthening

Disabilities Project 2022 - 2024

Also under the remit of Support Services is Project Management. In 2022, St Michael’s House secured funding from the HSE under the governments “Transforming Lives” reform process with St Michael’s House receiving a one-off grant to fund their Strengthening Disabilities Project 2022-2024.

About Strengthening Disabilities 2022-2024

The project is split into three agreed lead strands:

1. Speech & Language

SMH Speech & Language Therapy (SLT) teams will develop and implement communication supports to service users, families and staff in order to assist the development of a rights-based model of service.

Using a Total Communication approach, the SLT project team will develop and implement a comprehensive education package for all staff to support service users. This staff training education package will include both general and targeted training approaches and will oversee documented evidence of communication profiles placed in every service user file. Training will initially be targeted at:

• frontline,

• clinical and

• management staff working directly with service users

This training will also be available for all other management staff and support services staff to foster the rights-based approach and provide a level of awareness and skill in how to support service user’ communication across the organisation.

2. Education & Training

In collaboration with the Open Training College, the SMH Rights Education & Training Team will develop, implement and evaluate education and training inputs into developing a rights-based culture within St. Michael’s House.

In collaboration with the Open Training College (OTC), the Strengthening Disabilities Rights Education & Training Team will develop, implement, and evaluate education and training inputs into developing a rights-based culture within St. Michael’s House.

A number of specific education and training inputs for service users, families and staff will be developed including:

• Strengthening Advocacy

• Strengthening Employment opportunities for service users

• Establishing a rights committee in SMH

3. Community Participation

A volunteer programme will be set up and take a community network approach. By involving local people as volunteers, we will create a robust volunteer network that can support service users achieve their goals.

SMH core mission “My Life, My Way, My Choices” provides a clear pathway for each person who uses SMH services to live their full life. SMH works with service users to understand their needs and wishes and help them achieve their goals. Volunteers are very much part of SMH and bring so much to service users lives, therefore it was important to restart the volunteer programme as soon as possible post-Covid. As part of the Strengthening Disabilities Project and aligning with SMH Strategic Plan 2022-2026, the volunteer programme was re-started in 2022 and took on a community network approach. By involving local volunteers, the aim is to create a robust volunteer network that can support service users achieve their goal.

In September 2022, a dedicated project co-ordinator was employed to oversee the re-establishment of a volunteer programme. The initial task was to ensure that the programme had the appropriate governance structures in place. To date, a SMH Volunteer Policy and application process has been implemented and with the support of the Communications team, a multi-faceted “Step Forward and Volunteer” advertising campaign was launched. The SMH Volunteer Programme was officially relaunched on 5th December 2022 to celebrate International Volunteers Day. In tandem to this, SMH Project Coordinator also implemented a strategically targeted Transition Year schools programme and the Corporate Volunteer Champion programme which where both launched on International Volunters Day.

Looking forward to 2023, the next steps is to liaise with the managers and service users to establish the volunteer roles that are required and start the volunteer recruitment process. As this is a new programme it is of paramount importance that quality of roles and meeting service user goals are the focus but also meeting HIQA regulation.

Aligning with the SMH Strategic Plan 2022-2026, the Strengthening Disabilities project will create an active rights-based culture within St Michael’s House (with a particular focus on the UNCRPD Articles 12 and 19) and the necessary supporting structures to implement and sustain these successfully. The project team will provide updates on the Strengthening Disabilities via SMH communication channels as the project moves into the implementation phase.

Activity Hub

The Activity Hub is an online platform that hosts educational workshops, virtual exercise and social classes, and provides a wide selection of accessible resources for adults availing of our services. The Activity Hub has worked with service users, staff and external bodies throughout 2022 to increase the opportunities for people to further develop their online skills, keep active and healthy and to take part and have their say about the service.

Our main achievements in 2022 included:

• Over 50 different units from Day Service, Residential and people from home logged on throughout 2022

• 4,168 attendees were recorded to participate in online activities throughout the year

• 7 Weekly Classes (Social & Exercise).

• 28 service users took part in co-designing the new Activity Hub webpages.

• 686 people attended social events throughout the year (Quiz Night, Football Fan Club, Valentines Day, Halloween Party etc)

• 268 was the average monthly attendance to exercise class on the Activity Hub.

• 15 Units got involved with the Make Every Movement Count October Challenge, in conjunction with clinical teams

• The Activity Hub was used to deliver the ‘Active Healthy Me’ health & wellbeing programme, developed by Active Disability and the HSE. It helped people to increase their knowledge and understanding on the importance and benefits of being physically active, living a healthy lifestyle and the opportunities that are available to participate within their local community.

Sport & Leisure Services

Sport & Leisure Services in St. Michael’s House include the leisure centre, accessible swimming pool and community sport & physical activity programming.

Leisure Centre

Adults and children availing of services from St. Michaels House visited the swimming pool on 3,205 occasions in 2022. They participated in aqua aerobics, parent & toddler classes, physiotherapy led hydrotherapy, group swims, family swims and school swims. In 2022, the leisure centre converted an ancillary space into a gym, which was sponsored by the Sports Capital Grant. The gym has been used to support people to learn how to use equipment in a safe, motivating and fun way before exploring opportunities available in community settings.

Community Sport & Physical Activity Programmes

The community sport and physical activity programmes are run in conjunction with community partners, including local sports partnerships, National Governing Bodies of Sport, local sport clubs and leisure facilities. An average of 155 people engaged in a range of different activities each week, including football, multi-sports, bowling, chair aerobics, gym session, golf, bowls and active classes for people with dementia.

SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT PROJECT

The St Michael’s House Supported Employment Project is a Pobal funded initiative that supports young adults in St Michael’s House to prepare, train and gain meaningful employment in the community.

Aligning with St. Michael’s House Strategic Plan and building a rights based service, the Supported Employment Project delivers a model of employment that supports a person with additional needs to obtain and maintain meaningful employment. St. Michael’s House have been supporting adults with disabilities for over 70 years to enhance their skills and support them in a working environment. Through this initiative, the project team have established a streamlined pathway for all who wish to engage in employment as well as providing support to St. Michael’s House staff assisting in the process and future employers.

Training

The team train and assist young adults to become valued and active members of the workforce. Training and support is also provided to companies and their employees through a bespoke disability training awareness module.

St. Michael’s House are delighted to already have successful collaborative relationships with many companies who support and employ adults in our services such as Peter Mark, DHL, KFC, McDonalds, Devlin Hotel, Sebastian Marks Hair Salon, Lifestyle Sports, Eurospar and many other local businesses. Collette attends one of our day services and works in Lifestyle Sports.

Collette, what do you enjoy about working in Lifestyle Sports?

I love being part of the Lifestyle Sports team and feeling independent and included.

What is your day like in Lifestyle Sports?

I help behind the till where I greet them and help keep the shop neat and tidy. customers and help them to pack their bags. I clean the clothes rails

What do you like to do in your free time?

I like getting paid and having my own money to go shopping with my friends.

Together, we can make the workforce a more diverse and inclusive environment

NURSING

Director, Gráinne Bourke

It's been a productive year for the Nursing Department with staff developments! St Michaels House now has a Clinical Nurse Specialist Acute Hospital Liaison Nurse (CNSp AHL) in place to liaise with residential service users while in hospital. The Mental Health of Intellectual Disability (MHID) team has expanded to support more individuals with mental health difficulties.

St. Michaels House is now a site partner with DCU for undergraduate RNIDs. A new role of Clinical Placement Coordinator and Student Allocations Liaison Officer was engaged to provide essential education and supports to registered nurses supporting students on placements from external hospitals alongside supports for the student nurses who started in St Michaels House in September 2021.

Nurse Practice Development Coordinator (NPDC) with CNM2 Integrated Care post, researched, developed and implemented digital education programmes to reach the service user and support team in their home. This was achieved by the use of QR Codes for the first time in St. Michaels House.

As of October 2022, and for the first time, SMH has two candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioners in Mental Health of Intellectual Disability and Paediatric Neurodisability.

Nursing supported service users throughout Covid procedures with guidance, advice, testing and nonacute isolation.

Nursing presented at many conferences in 2022 including poster presentation success at The Power of Nurses/ Midwives to Influence Change, NMPDU North Conference.

Presented to Community Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) teams nationally on the difficulties of managing outbreaks in a disability setting. This is now a standalone module on the IPC Link Practitioner course nationally. It was also key in the development of the National Forum for IPC in Disability Services. CNSp IPC represents St Michaels House on this forum.

Appointment of CNM1 in Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) Nov

2022 and seven IPC link nurses trained within SMH to support IPC and Hand Hygiene Training. IPC training is updated to reflect requirements by HIQA based on their Regulation 27 inspections which included three webinars for staff and IPC Policies reviewed and updated/changed as necessary.

Projects 2022

‘Getting to know me group’, - a weekly group arranged for service users who are living with dementia.

Challenges for 2022

Increases in service users accessing acute hospital care and planning towards safe discharges with changing and aging need.

Grants/Fundraising money received in 2022

The magic table through the Nursing and Midwifery Planning Development Unit

(NMPDU) Service Improvement Innovation

Key Achievements

• A focus on promoting and advocating for eHealth, supporting the education of staff and service users.

• The creation and development of online resources and providing guidance to staff on the use/benefits of differing technologies and software to promote various health and safety initiatives

• Service users have played a direct role in the development of educational resources for their peers and have been supported to deliver online information sessions through the Activity Hub (examples include Make Every Movement Count, Sun Safety, Oral Health Awareness Week, which included collaboration with the National Dental Hospital and colleagues across other disability services).

• Created an environment where more service users are increasingly digitally literate

Initiatives 2022. The magic table awakens and motivates people who are living with dementia. The magic table is a fun care innovation that connects people living with dementia to each other. This fully portable magic table can be played anywhere in the service users home. The interactive games break through apathy by stimulating physical, cognitive and social interaction. The magic table supports people who are living with dementia to take part in activities that are appropriate to their current ability whilst offering a failure free experience that is person centred.

• Programmes such as online digital safety awareness are now a focus through a recent collaboration with An Cosán.

• Advocating for the adoption/adaptation of new technologies to enhance the lives of service users, carers and families remains a priority

• Collaborative ways of learning together are centric to this to ensure sustainability.

Spark funding received to develop online Sleep Kit for families and staff, joint initiative with nursing and psychology from CAMHS-ID and MHID teams, to be launched in 2023. Eight nurses were funded by NMPDU to complete post graduate programme. CREATE Project was awarded €86,000 to implement the National Health Passport for People with an Intellectual Disability across adult respite services in SMH. The funding has enabled us to recruit two part time Project Coordinators to work directly with service users staff, and families to introduce to the health passport - two formats are available a paper version or app version. SMH is also very well represented on the recently convened National Expert Advisory Group to review and realise the national project ideals for the Health Passport through the National Disability Office in the HSE.

MARY O’REILLY REACHES PARK RUN MILESTONE

St Michael’s House vision is to understand service user needs, their wishes and help them achieve their goals.

Mary O’Reilly lives in Boroimhe Willows. Mary is an avid runner and has recently achieved her ‘100 Park Run’ milestone with a PB of 31.00m.

Mary takes part in her local Park Run in Swords, Co. Dublin every Saturday morning in the sun, the rain and the snow. Through her involvement with the Park Run community, Mary has built meaningful friendships with like-minded, supportive people and has become a valued member of the team.

Mary also volunteers as a Park Run steward and has recently become a trail walker. Trail walkers are vital members of the Park Run team where they support and encourage new members to complete the run. This is a highly sought-after role and offers much value to the events.

“Mary is not only an inspiration to all in St Michael’s House but also an inspiration to each and every person who attends the Park Run events. It is very much a two-way relationship.” Sue Pepper, staff member in Boroimhe Willows.

OPEN TRAINING COLLEGE (OTC)

Director, Dr Karen Finnerty

The previous SMH strategy set an objective for the OTC to expand the range of programmes it offers and to expand our partnership with other bodies. Highlights for the five years covered by the Strategy demonstrate that the College continues to meet its mission of providing courses to the sector that are “accredited, accessible and embody best practice”. Between 2017 and 2022, the OTC registered 2,600 students across its accredited L5 to L8 courses, conferred 2,331 students, delivered in excess of 300 in-person workshops, 12,000 tutorials and 6,000 podcasts.

The College worked on developing and delivering online resources to many stakeholders across the sector. These resources included courses on Assisted Decision-Making, individualising services and GDPR. Other achievements included the development of a complete programme of 13 modules for SMH host families and working with clinicians to develop programmes for families on aversive feeding, independence skills and school transitions. The first significant placement of OTC social care students in settings to enhance their learning and the development of the first comprehensive dedicated OTC Student Support Service also occurred.

Challenges for 2022

In 2022, the Open Training College, like all third-level educational institutions, had to transition its students back to the classroom following Covid-19. The main challenge identified was the return to in-person exams and this required the College to implement additional and robust support. The College has now returned fully to the delivery model it used pre-COVID. Other challenges included delays in statutory processes in the area of third-level education arising from the legacy of Covid. In the academic world, the threat and impact of Artificial Intelligence chatbot text generators on academic integrity emerged and is challenging all Colleges to secure appropriate responses. Post Covid also saw a change in application numbers and patterns, causing challenges with intake and programme viability as has increasing competition across all areas the College works in.

Projects 2022

All policies were fully updated and a new version of Quality Assurance Document was published in 2022. The College, in line with other third-level educational institutions, needs to maintain the

development of new Academic Integrity Policies and procedures in line with NAIN (National Academic Integrity Network) guidelines and definitions. This requirement is made even more essential due to the rise of artificial intelligence apps that can lead to increased academic impropriety.

We submitted for validation, a Level 8 qualification ‘Honours Bachelor of Arts in Applied Social Studies (Disability Service Management)’, which will provide managers, influencers and leaders in disability services with the knowledge, skills and competencies to support people who use services in the Assisted Decision-Making environment. This process continues into 2023 with the first students expected to commence in autumn 2023.

The College supported numerous disability organisations in a variety of areas, including personcentred planning, supporting people who have behaviours that challenge, supported employment, assisted decision-making, in the provision of online inductions for new staff and the review of human rights and the setting up of a human rights framework.

Key Achievements

• CORU approval for its BA in Social Care; a social care degree enhancing the competence of graduates across all social sectors, including disability services and enabling graduates to achieve registration as professional Social Care Workers.

• Working with the National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act Reference group.

• Developed a one-day training programme for all SMH service managers and PICs on service auditing. The programme focuses on areas including the importance of a rights-based approach to auditing, the challenges of auditing, responsibilities towards auditing and how to support other stakeholders in the process.

• Supported the Pobal-funded Supported Employment Project by providing staff employed in our day services hubs with awards in Supported Employment and in Training and Development.

STAFF EDUCATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT (SETDD)

Director, Dr Karen Finnerty

• The Staff Education, Training and Development Department (SETDD) was involved in multiple projects across SMH in 2022. These projects included the launch of the Digital Skills Studio with the Nursing Department . This studio will allow for the creation of video and audio training for service users and staff.

• In 2022, the SETDD also focussed on the auditing and management of Minimum Required Training (MRT). It has worked hard with management to ensure that all employees are aware of their MRT responsibilities and that timely and accurate information is available to line managers. As part of this, the SETDD completed a full review of all training in day and residential services covering 135+ units for MRT compliance.

• In preparation for the new HRIS system, the department developed and launched online training for the system due to go live in 2023.

• The SETDD, in consultation with the Open Training College, launched a new student placement policy for Social Care Workers in SMH. The department supported over 50 social care students in placements in SMH in 2022 and aims to increase this in future years.

• In 2022, the SETDD was involved in supporting safeguarding initiatives including the establishment of a children’s safeguarding steering group, the development of an online course and in conjunction with the Designated Officer (DO) a Safeguarding Course using Video Format. Compliance in Children First and Safeguarding increased by 20% through 2022.

Challenges for 2022

• The main challenge in 2022 was moving on from pandemic-led training back to in-person training and the loosening of restrictions. This transition was challenging for all staff as the initial move involved educational environments that involved intense IPC protocols, including masking and open windows. As the year progressed, these protocols decreased, and the move back to ‘normality’ increased.

• A major challenge for the department in keeping all staff in the organisation up to date in compliance with MRT and in providing timely and ongoing accurate data to managers on compliance levels; a situation made more challenging by reliance on manual systems and excel worksheets. This situation is improving and will be further assisted by the implementation of the

SMH Human Resource Information System (HRIS).

• There is also an expanding demand for training interventions across a range of areas with a static staffing allocation, although the path to seeking additional resources was clarified in 2022.

Projects

2022 (Complete and Ongoing)

• Safeguarding online video - the recording of key information and answers to frequently asked questions related to safeguarding.

• PAIRS Training Module - Work commenced on online and video training for relationship and sexuality training for service users.

• Supervision Training - In conjunction with the Open Training College and the HR Department, the SETDD rolled out online training to managers, focusing on the key skills required to supervise, manage and coach staff effectively.

• Audit Training - this face-to-face training was a new initiative to support PICS and Managers in the preparation for audits in their units and has continued into 2023.

• Increasing Manual Handling internal trainer numbers.

• Increasing TIPS Trainer numbers.

Key Statistics

• 188 new recruits were supported through Organisational Orientation

• 1,015 Face to face workshops covering 2,653 staff organised and delivered

• 135+ Units/Depts audited for training compliance covering 1700+ staff

• 1,725 staff completed 9,642 online modules

• 25 internal trainers were refreshed/ trained

• Over 7,500 training queries were answered by the SETDD through their dedicated email addresses

QQI GRADUATION 2022

As SMH continue to move toward the delivery of services based on service users’ rights, the implementation of QQI accredited training establishes a clear progression route to community education opportunities and active citizenship.

SMH are committed to delivering quality educational opportunities to people who use the services and continually support individuals to achieve accredited awards on the National Framework of Qualifications. The validated modules such as, personal decision making, money management, personal safety, support the development of core and independence skills for learners. Learners may choose to complete the Major Award at Level 2 (6 Modules) or individual modules to gain a Minor Award. We began the delivery of awards at Level 3 in Advocacy, Work Experience and Community Participation.

SMH were delighted to host two graduation ceremonies for adults who attend services in Service Area 1 and Service Area 2. The graduation ceremonies awarded over 100 learners with QQI Level 2 Awards with 18 learners receiving a Major Award at Level 2 in General Learning. QQI Level 2 Major Awards are a very significant achievement for learners with each person completing six modules, including two compulsory modules, in order to receive this award.

Many Minor Awards were presented for a wide range of modules including; Personal Safety, Personal Decision Making, Personal Care, Money Management, Food Choice and Health, Health Related Exercise, Using Technology, Gardening, Relaxation, Listening and Speaking, and Nonverbal Communication.

Delighted families, friends and staff attended both graduation ceremonies to celebrate and congratulate the graduates on their wonderful achievements. Well done everybody!

QUALITY, SAFETY & SERVICE IMPROVEMENT

Director, Ann O’Connor

The Quality and Safety team has had a busy year reviewing existing policies and implementing new ones. These include:

• Establishing an Incident Review Team , meeting fortnightly to assess, discuss and analyse incidents and accidents.

• Providing E-form training for the team, with the effect of increased incident reporting and reaching our KPI with NIMS in line with National Incident Management System.

• Implementation of Organisational Claims Management Process in line with State Claims Agency approved by EMT and CEO

• Establishing a quarterly review of Claims with the State Claims Agency and Claims handler.

• Reviewing Policy and Procedures with Interim Director of Quality working collaboratively with relevant staff to initiate policy review.

• Supporting residential services through identification of improvements and recommendations through pre-inspection audit.

• Continued data collection and analysis of SMH HIQA compliance levels from announced, unannounced and thematic inspections.

• Service user support with the Citizens Advisory Panel as part of Digi-ID- Digital skills education to support better health and social inclusion for adults with an intellectual disability. Sarah Boyne who attends Omni Services in St Michael’s House and is an active participant of the Activity Hub joined the Citizen’s Advisory Panel in September 2022. Panel members are currently presenting and teaching their peers how to use the Digital Academy app in their services. St Michael’s House had their first showcase in October which was held in Work Options, supporting people to register and give feedback.

Projects 2022

• A review of the Eform system is currently underway with expected completion in 2023.

• The CREATE 2023 APP - Project Plan - This is at a very early stage! The Accessible Personal Plan (APP) consortium is a collaboration of three service providers and aims to build on previous work they have completed. The goal is to learn from

each other, and combine the domain expert knowledge each partner brings. Assistive Technology works best when the content the users is accessing is important to the person. This project will take an Accessibility First method through the project. It will also give plan owners the opportunity to share their plan with their circle of support to improve communication and support transparency between services and families.

• Having access to important information about your life is a vital contributing factor to health and wellbeing. Transparency within Health system is proven to improve outcomes for everyone supported.

Service User Stories

• Service Users led a review of their living arrangements, which resulted in positive changes, improving their experiences, and leading to a feeling of accomplishment.

• Service users presented on external PCP webinars

• PCP SU Group members returned to attending HSE National Sharing Day in person

• Returned to face to face meeting and agreed a work plan

• Digi-ID PLUS Citizen Advisory Panel – learning and working together continues.

• The Executive Management Team and Service User Forum was established in 2022 and will continue in 2023 and beyond.

89% HIQA Compliance in 2022

RICHARD O’LEARY HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSON-CENTRED PLANNING

The first and primary goal in St Michael’s House Strategic Plan 2022-2026 is to build on the personcentred work that was successfully implemented in the previous strategy and continue to move the organisation towards the delivery of services based on service users’ rights. Person Centred Planning (PCP) discovers how our service users want to live their lives, what is required to make that possible and provides them the opportunity to set and achieve meaningful goals.

Richard O’Leary resides in Glencree residential in Ballymun, Dublin 9. Supported by his keyworkers, Richard has become an active advocate for person-centred planning and has presented to social care students and key stakeholders from Trinity College Dublin, Open Training College, TU Blanchardstown among others on the importance of a lifecycle planning approach to services.

Richard, why is person-centred planning important to you?

I get to make my own decisions on what I do and where I go each day

What do you enjoy most about presenting to students?

Getting money, meeting new people and telling them my story

What other things do you like to get involved in with St Michael’s House?

Autism Day, meeting old friends and staff, recruitment days

What are your favourite things to do?

Walking to the garage by myself, going to see Bohs play, going to drama, Zumba and the Salt Caves

DIGI ACADEMY

SMH are delighted to partner with Trinity College Dublin and disability organisations across Ireland to support the development on an accessible digital skills e-learning video platform for people who require digital supports. This EU innovation project joins with partners across France, Sweden, Spain, Croatia and Ireland with the aim of supporting the digital inclusion of people with disabilities.

Sarah Boyne was chosen to represent SMH as paid member of the project Citizen Advisory Panel and plays an instrumental part as a collaborator with the DigiAcademy project team. Part of Sarah’s role is to advise researchers on what is important for people with intellectual disabilities and to review project materials and app design. Sarah did this through co-creation activities with her peers via user testing, focus groups and evaluation activities.

Sarah is also an important member of the “Teaching and Learning” team with DigiAcademy and is now a DigiAcademy teacher. DigiAcademy is an accessible, digital education platform co-designed by people who require accessibility supports to ensure the app is inclusive to everyone. She teaches and supports her peers in SMH to use the app and has also developed her presentation and communication skills.

“It is so important for our rights to be included and to know how to stand up for yourself…I love being part of the panel, I was bursting to tell people about it.

I love being a DigiAcadent teacher. I have met new people and enjoy working together as part of the DigiAcadent team. It feels really good for my confidence.”

Sarah Boyne

HUMAN RESOURCES

Director, Debbie Byrne

HR Governance

• HR continued to be responsible for ongoing compliance with employment legislation, national standards, HSE Circulars/Directives and Best Practice guidelines.

• A main priority for Human Resources in 2022 was achieving Goal 3: Valuing & Investing in Our Staff” with people’s wellbeing at the heart of our culture in St. Michael’s House.

• Our success in 2022 is solely accredited the exceptional hard work and commitment of staff in the provision of support and care to the adults and children.

Employee Wellbeing

In 2022, there was a focus on employee wellbeing to support the safety, health, welfare, and wellbeing of our staff in their work:

• A cross discipline wellbeing committee was established in 2022 with its purpose to support activities and resources that encourage a culture of health and wellness in St. Michael’s House.

• SMH introduced an employee wellbeing bulletin for 2022. The bulletin provides staff with quarterly wellbeing initiatives and activities to support staff wellbeing and create a culture where staff feel connected with their colleagues.

• Quarterly wellbeing forums with all staff were held in 2022. These forums offered consultations sessions to give our staff a voice on innovative and creative wellbeing initiatives to support both them and their colleagues in their daily roles.

• SMH has a wellbeing online resource. This is a bank of supportive resources for staff experiencing increased levels of anxiety and distress. In the past 12 months we have had 50% (900 staff) of our workforce avail of this resource.

Absence Management

Non Covid related absenteeism presented as a significant challenge in a post pandemic environment in 2022. This required a collaborative management approach between Operations and Human Resources. An absence management strategy was developed, and an implementation plan rolled out in March 2022 to address increasing absenteeism trends. Effective management of attendance continues to be a key requirement in the provision of a cost effective and high-quality service.

Employee Relations

• The HR Department continued to guide and advise management and staff on employment, equality rights and industrial relation matters.

Recruitment and Selection Highlights

• Recruitment and Retention was an ongoing challenge for St. Michael’s House throughout 2022:

• A review and restructuring of our recruitment processes was implemented across operations in 2022.

Pensions

• The pension team engaged with 124 members. Staff whole time equivalent

• At the end of 2022 St. Michael’s House had 1,449 whole time equivalent posts.

• Recruitment Fairs were set up with service user involvement in Ballymun Headquarters for October and November 2022 with good results. There was also an option for candidates to interview on the day.

• The HR Department engaged with external recruitment fairs in the RDS and five nursing external recruitment fairs in 2022.

• Other recruitment initiatives included an exploration of UK and European jobs market, St. Michael’s House joint recruitment initiatives with CHO’s, involvement in CH09 International/Domestic Campaigns and advertisement of staff vacancies extensively on social media, national press, and radio.

PSYCHIATRY

Director, Sheena Flavin

Contributing to developing a sustainable workforce – each year, we supervise psychologists in training from clinical and /or counselling psychology doctoral courses. We also provided MHID lectures to 3rd year nursing students in DCU and outreach groups of both postgraduate and undergraduate nursing students. We also provided HST (Higher Specialist Training) at Senior Registrar and Fellowship level through placements and clinical assessments.

We have expanded our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Intellectual Disability (CAMHSID) team with the recruitment of a part time psychologist. We also recruited another CNS and senior psychologist to the MHID team so we now have two Mental Health Intellectual Disability (MHID) teams.

We adopted a multi-disciplined approach (psychiatry, nursing and psychology) in continuing to build alliances with local universities by providing mental health focused training to undergraduate students across various courses.

Senior Psychologists in CAMHS-ID and MHID taught students in UCD in the Clinical Psychology doctoral course.

Our CAMHS-ID team organised a national CAMHS conference.

Challenges for 2022

Resources are needed to meet the needs of catchment area as outlined in Sharing the Vision. The need to strengthen working relationships with other teams.

Resources are needed to support service users who do not attend day/residential services in SMH

More clarity around catchment areas for our services is needed, and there is also a need to develop a service for those of an older age.

Service User Stories/Highlight of 2022

A 9 year old boy was referred to CAMHS ID with a moderate learning disability, ASD and ADHD from the Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT). Both he and his family were under significant stress in the home and were facing the prospect of transitioning schools. He was on medication at this time and he had no respite. The CAMHS ID team worked on strategies that could help him with the CDNT and the school and his parents over a period of time. They also worked to increase his LINK hours and to introduce respite. He has now started a new school and he is very happy. He is availing of

regular respite and all medication has been discontinued. It is heartening that this boy and his family got the resources they needed in order to improve their quality of life.

Projects 2022

Social Prescribing Project is being undertaken by Ciara Cahill (Assistant Psychologist, and supervised by MDT of MHID team). The goal of social prescribing is to link people with activities in their local community based on their individual needs. Social prescribing is designed to reduce isolation and improve independence and wellbeing through engagement in meaningful activities. Stepping Stones project was completed by CAMHS-ID Team to support the parents of our youngest service users.

The Sleep Kit project was a major project that was completed and will be finalised at the beginning of 2023.

Key Achievements

• Further developments on our COG and SOP with the aim to release both in 2023. Oversight to these documents is provided by the MHID Steering group.

• Implementing plans in both CAMHS ID and MHID to discuss and promote service development projects which will enhance the quality of service delivery.

• The MHID team has been expanded to include Area 1.

• A MHID psychology consultation service was offered for south side service users.

• Successful implementation of the transition from CAMHS ID to MHID services. The MHID team have developed a leaflet for families explaining our services.

• Provided workshops to parents, families, staff teams and carers related to mental health, promotion of service users and staff (e.g. supporting service users with complex emotional needs).

• Provided psycho education in the schools of our younger service users.

• Dr Manus Moynihan published a peer reviewed paper in the British Journal of Learning Disability.

• Developed a service for those who are older and those who have dementia.

CLINICAL SERVICES

Director, Caroline Howorth

A key achievement in 2022 was the appointment of a Director of Adult Clinical Services and the implementation of Progressing Disabilities, SMH Adult Clinical Services was fully established in the organisation.

In 2022, a significant portion of clinical work was dedicated to supporting frontline staff in keeping people safe and well during the COVID pandemic including:

• Alternative Accommodation Forum (AAF)

• Covid screening, vaccinations, interventions and recovery

• Development of clinical information packs and resources (including easy to read formats)

Clinicians continued to learn how to provide clinical supports via online telehealth methodologies while still continuing with direct clinical work in line with local and national guidelines. Significant therapeutic and social work was undertaken in supporting families and people living at home.

In addition:

• Clinical teams focussed on ensuring minimum required training was available to staff online (e.g. Positive Behaviour Support Level 5 Training and Feeding, Eating, Drinking and Swallowing (FEDS)).

• Clinical staff also contributed to the development and provision of accessible, clinically-focussed activities on the organisation’s Activity Hub.

• The Assistive Technology (AT) working group was established and reviewed SMH processes and procedures in assessing and recommending AT devices for adults in the service.

• Ongoing work as regards bone health for service users with follow up DEXA scans, treatment reviews, vitamin D levels established for over 300 service users.

Face to face monthly safeguarding training and refresher training was delivered to all new and existing staff. Clinicians worked alongside frontline staff in responding appropriately to an increase in reported safeguarding concerns and also collaborated closely with all stakeholders in leading out on residential consultations in a time where the challenge of available vacancies was significant.

In order to ensure measurable standards of service, excellence and innovation, the organisation successfully transitioned to IDDSI, in line with national and international best practice and FEDS training became minimum required training for the first time.

Despite the challenges of the period, Adult Clinical Services also saw some important developments in staffing whereby a full time Dietetic Manager and a half time Clinical Case Manager post was recruited.

Key Achievements 2022

SMH spent much time in 2022 consolidating our previous work in preparing for the implementation of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act (2015). We have developed an ADM policy to guide staff on the Act and have developed ADM online training available for all staff, accessed through the OTC website.

The ADM Steering Group has ensured service users and staff are kept up to date with local and national developments in the area and steering group members have been heavily involved at a national level, influencing the content of HSE E-Learning modules and contributing to national webinars on topics of both ADM and Consent.

Resource materials such as easy to read posters and accessible online workshops were developed by service users to prepare their peers for the implementation of ADM in 2023. Clinicians have contributed and been involved in national advocacy groups including National Consent Policy Advisory Group, National Federation of Voluntary Bodies Planning Group and National ADM Transitional Oversight

Group. We are also fortunate to have representation from the HSE Office of Human Rights and Equality Policy in attendance at our ADM Steering Group meetings to further strengthen the links to national developments.

In 2022, SMH were successful recipients under the UCD Patient and Public Involvement Ignite Initiatives and received seed funding to commence a research project entitled, ‘What is Research?’ – a cross organisational research project focussing on adults with ID as the co-researchers in developing accessible information on the topic of research.

Service Users have also been heavily involved in the ongoing Total Communication project with our charity partners Dundrum Town Centre. Service Users completed a centre walkaround and participated in focus groups to develop the Total Communication Training. Delivery of training to Dundrum Centre staff commenced in June 2022.

Adult Clinical Services held a number of events across 2022, focussing on support, upskilling and development for teams in the service.

• National Health and Social Care Professionals Day,

• Clinicians’ CPD Day with a guest speaker presentation by Ms. Mary Phelan (DCU School of Linguistics and Translation Studies)

2022 also saw the appointment of the first Clinical Specialist HSCP post for St. Michael’s House – in the adult SLT department.

In 2022, the SMH Research Committee was back to meeting on a formal basis and the department was active in supporting recipients of the 2021 SMH Seed Funding Scheme in pursuing their research goals.

Clinicians also focussed on having a broader influence by participating in national working groups, special interest groups and delivering lectures and workshops to medical and HSCP students fostering our relationships with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) and promoting disability services as a sector of choice.

Adult Clinical Services commenced development, review and implementation of clinical policies in 2022 Significant work was completed in auditing the numbers of individuals engaged in multi-agency service provision and the type of service(s) being accessed. As a result, comprehensive guidelines are now in place for any staff involved in a multi-agency support arrangement and data protection and sharing templates are in place in line with GDPR governance.

Clinical case managers supported 23 service users on the Adult Day Waitlist and 23 School leavers (2022) to transition into a new day service within SMH in 2022, against a complex and ever-changing national context.

Adult clinical services have been involved in a number of cross-organisational projects focussing on the continual quality enhancement including:

• Safeguarding

• MPIO (My Personal Information Online)

• Supported Employment Project (Pobal)

• Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

Service User Highlights

• Effective individual psychological therapy resulting in decreases in high-risk behaviours.

• Using advanced health care/end of life planning document, with a service user with a life limiting condition, to very positive effect and looking to develop this further

• Service user engagement in ‘Every Moment Counts’ during the October 30 day movement challenge.

• Positive feedback from service users and families on healthy eating and oral health.

• Ageing (multiple organisation initiatives supporting people who are ageing)

• Dementia (further development of processes to support people with dementia)

• ASD

• FEDS and Enteral Feeding

• HIQA Compliance

Challenges for 2022

Staffing represented a significant challenge for the adult clinical teams across 2022. Retirements, resignations, retention and ongoing recruitment issues were experienced. We noted the loss of experienced staff and planned for ongoing upskilling of newer staff to meet SU needs.

Overall, the Clinical Management Team have continued to advocate for an equitable and proportionate allocation of clinical supports to adult services. Service User needs continue to change and/or increase as well as of the pressure of provision of medical and therapeutic inputs to service users not in residential service, with particular regard to those in “clinic only” where many complexities are coming to light. All of this has been against the backdrop of a shortage of clinical staff locally and nationally.

Projects 2022

Accessible Communication Environments in Dundrum Town Centre and National Gallery of Ireland

Strengthening Disabilities Project 2022-2024

Service User safeguarding awareness training Supported Employment Project (Pobal

Updating of the PBS/ Psychology support database Falls prevention policy and clinic development.

Sleep project

Changing Gears – booklet on positive aging.

Activity Hub Website Design

End of life planning with and for service users

Make Every Movement Count project and Advent Calendar

Oral Health Promotion week Sept’22

Governance

St. Michael’s House is a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital.

St. Michael’s House and its activities have been granted charitable status by the Revenue Commissioners. St. Michael’s House Company Registration Number is 27628. The Charity Registration Number is CHY 5692. The Registered Office for St. Michael’s House and all the companies in the St. Michael’s House Group is located at St. Michael’s House, Ballymun Road, Dublin 9.

Board of Directors

St. Michael’s House is governed by a voluntary Board of Directors/members who ensure that the vision, mission and core values of the organisation as expressed in its ‘constitutional documents are upheld and realised in practice through the adoption, implementation and regular oversight of the St. Michael’s House Strategic Plan 2022 – 2026.

Conflicts of interest is a standing agenda item for all Board and committee meetings. Directors are also requested to declare any potential conflicts of interests on an annual basis to the Company Secretary. There were no instances or arrangements during 2022 whereby a director was materially interested in the company’s activities. A conflict-of-interest policy is in place which outlines the procedure and process to deal with and manage all potential and actual conflicts, as and when they arise.

As an organisation with professional staff, where Directors have no role in the day-to-day running of the company, the Board of St. Michael’s House operates by devolving responsibility for the conduct of its business to a CEO and in turn through her to other staff.

The members of the Board understand and identify with the vision, mission and values of St. Michael’s House. The Board is currently made up of thirteen Directors. No new Directors were appointed in 2022. When recruiting new Directors, the Nominations Committee ensures that they are selected in line with the criteria set out in the Competency Framework of the Corporate Governance Manual. The Framework aims to create a diverse Board which is in compliance with the Equal Status Act. As well as recruiting Directors with the

required expertise the Nominations Committee also try to attract individuals who are familiar with and/ or are sensitive to the works of St. Michael’s House, understand its operating environment, and are familiar with the lived experience of service users.

Directors during 2022

Currently the Board is made up of 70% males and 30% females. It is hoped that there will be a more balanced board when recruiting new Directors in 2023.

Training

A Directors Induction Training programme is available for all new Directors to assist them to carry out their functions in line with Corporate Governance. A Code of Conduct outlines the responsibility of each Director and includes procedures for dealing with any potential conflict of interest which may arise between their responsibilities as Directors and their outside interests. The Chairperson sets the agenda for each Board meeting. Executive management members attend Board meetings and make regular presentations on the strategies and operations of the organisation. The Board and Management are committed to maintaining a high standard of corporate governance in accordance with the organisation’s Corporate Governance Manual, the HSE Annual Compliance Statement for Section 38 Bodies and have used the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016 as a guide in drawing up the Corporate Governance Manual. This manual is reviewed annually.

Board Members (2022): Mr. Ciaran Bolger (Chairperson from July 2022), Mr. Ray Mc Kenna (Vice Chairperson), Professor Anthony Staines (retired from position of Chairperson in July 2022), Mr. Pat Cullen, Dr. Ailis Quinlan, Dr. Susan Kent, Ms. Shahla Sabetnia, Mr. Liam O’Donohoe, Mr. Tom Casey, Mr. Mairtin Mac Aodha, Ms. Dee Moran, Mr. Ken Gormley, and Mr. Eoin Mc Vey.

Company Secretary during 2022: Mr. Karl Wren (Interim)

The Board would like to express its sincere appreciation of the commitment and dedication of management and staff to maintaining the quality of existing services and for developing new services for people with a disability and their families. The Directors are satisfied with the operational performance of the organisation in what has been very challenging on-going economic climate with increasing demands and constrained funding.

Review of Operations 2022

Board Sub-Committees:

During 2022 there were there were seven sub committees, Finance, Quality and Safety, Audit and Risk, Governance, Properties and Estates, Foundation, and the Schools Patron committee. These committees meet regularly during the year. Each committee also reports on operational progress at each board meeting. The committees establish their own terms of reference, which are regularly updated. Any recommendations for changing the Terms of reference are brought to the Board for approval.

Quality and Safety Committee: The Quality & Safety Committee provides assurance to the Board that there are appropriate and effective systems, structures and processes in place that cover all aspects of clinical, social care and occupational safety, and sets and monitors the delivery of key performance indicators for the quality and safety function at executive and local levels. The Committee ensures that St. Michael’s House is operating within the provisions and standards set out in the legislation or regulation which is material to the work of the company.

2022 Committee Members: Dr. Ailis Quinlan (Chairperson), Dr. Jean Lane (Vice chairperson), Mr. Liam O’Donohoe (Board member), Mr. Ken Gorman (Board member), Professor Anthony Staines (Board member), Dr. Susan Kent (Board member), Dr. Regina McQuillan (committee member), Ms. Eileen O’ Mahony Bowe (committee member), Ms. Liz Reynolds (CEO) and Ann O’ Connor (Interim Director of Quality, Safety and Service Improvement).

The committee would like to thank Ms. Elaine Teague, who was the Director of Quality Improvement and Safety Development, for all her hard work and effort while reporting into this committee. Elaine steeped down to take up a different position in the organisation. Grainne Bourke, the Director of Nursing acted up in Elaine’s absence until Ann O’ Connor’s appointment as the Interim Director of Quality, Safety and Service Improvement. Again, the committee would like to extend its sincere thanks to Grainne for her hard work and effort while she was acting up in this role.

The committee welcomed Dr. Jean Lane to the committee during 2022.

Finance Committee: The Finance Committee monitors and reviews all aspects of the financial performance of St. Michael’s House. The Committee reviews and recommends for approval the annual

overall operating budget for the company and keeps under review the management accounts including the cash flow position of the Company.

2022 Committee Members: Pat Cullen (Chairperson and Board member), Ms. Dee Moran (Vice-chairperson and Board member), Professor Anthony Staines (Board member), Mr. Eoin Mc Vey (Board member), Ms. Liz Reynolds (CEO), Mr. David Dunne (Director of Operations), Ms. Rose Creegan (Director of Finance), Ms. Debbie Byrne (Director of HR) and Laura Beausang (Committee member).

Audit and Risk Committee: The Audit and Risk Committee keeps under review the scope and effectiveness of the organisations internal financial controls and risk management systems. It also monitors with legalisation and regulations associated with financial reporting.

2022 Committee Members: Ms. Dee Moran (Chairperson and Board member), Eoin Mc Vey (Board member), Ms. Rose Creegan (Director of Finance), Ms. Debbie Byrne (Director of Human Resources), Ms. Rosemary Ryan (Committee member), Mr. Jim Cuddy (Committee member), Ms. Elaine Teague (Director of Quality and Service Improvement), Ms. Liz Reynolds (CEO) and Mr. David Dunne (Director of Operations).

Governance Committee: The Governance Committee maintains the constitution of the company under regular review and provides recommendations to the Board as appropriate. It keeps under review the Competency Framework and ensures that the identification and nomination of candidates for approval by the Board for appointment as Directors is carried out in line with the Framework.

2022 Committee Members: Professor Anthony

Staines (Board member), Mr. Tom Casey

(Board member), Mr. Maírtín MacAodha (Board member), Mr. Ken Gormley (Board member), Ms. Liz Reynolds (CEO).

Schools Patron Committee: This committee was established to give guidance and support to the Boards of Management to the six Special National Schools that St. Michael’s House is Patron to and to work with Boars of Management Chairs to ensure the schools operate in compliance with the Education Act 1998

2022 Committee members: Máirtín Mac Aodha

(Chairperson and Board member), Pat Cullen

(Board member), David Dunne (Director of Operations), Tracey Mc Kenna (Director of Children Services) and Paula O’ Brien (Schools Liaison Officer).

Properties and Estates Committee: The Properties and Estates committee will support the Board in managing all property of St. Michaels House, including in particular those facilities that are occupied by service users under S. 38 of a Care Organisation and Approved Housing Bodies.

2022 Committee members: Mr. Ken Gormley (Chairperson and Board member), Mr Pat Cullen (Board member), Ms. Shahla Sabetnia (Board member), Mr. Diarmuid Devereux (Director of Properties and Estates), Ms. Liz Reynolds (CEO), Mr. Brian Butterly (Committee member), Mr. Noel Kelly (Committee member), Mr. Martin Heffernan (Committee member) and Mr. Ronan Baxter (Committee member).

SMH Board and Sub-Committee Attendance 2022

A Represents the number of meetings held during the period the Director was a member of the Board/Committee.

B Represents the number of meetings attended during the period.

*Board members were invited to attend meetings during 2022 but were not obliged to.

Finance Director, Rose Creegan

St. Michael’s House

Ballymun Road, Ballymun, Dublin 9

T: (01) 884 0200 | E: info@smh.ie

Registered Charity Number (RCN): 20008932 Website: www.smh.ie