THE Western Trust is having to use unregulated childcare placements which have not been formally approved by a Fostering panel due to the high demand on its Childrens’ Services.

In its latest Corporate Risk Register, the Trust has outlined 13 ‘extreme’ corporate risks, some of which could “compromise client safety” or even lead to “injury or death of patients or staff”.

There are a further 20 ‘high’ risks identified and one classed as ‘medium’.

The Corporate Risk Register noted that capacity issues within Fostering and the inability to complete kinship assessments within the prescribed timescales had resulted in children being placed in placements which have not been formally approved by the Fostering panel and are therefore unregulated.

At the end of December last year the Register acknowledged that there were 13 children in unregulated placements and undergoing assessment at the foster teams, and a further eight children were undergoing assessment at the Looked After Children (LAC) teams.

It noted that the development of a building in Enniskillen for the purposes of High Support Accommodation should be completed and ready for occupation by April 2015.

The Register also outlined the actions taken to alleviate the issue, which include: -weekly monitoring of waiting lists; -Unregulated placements monitored via Sub-Directorate Risk Monitoring reports; -Monthly visits by allocated social worker for all LAC / young people in unregulated placements.

Other extreme risks identified in the Trust’s latest Corporate Risk Register include: -Potential for harm to children whilst awaiting Gateway and Family Intervention Service (unallocated cases) due to capacity issues in the service limiting the ability to respond in designated timescales.

-A risk of exposure to water borne pathogens which may result in injury/death to patients/staff.

-Due to domiciliary care capacity being limited in areas within Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry, Adult Mental Health and Disability Services (AMH&DS) have been unable to provide services to clients who have been assessed as critical need and are at risk. -There is a risk that developmental milestones measured by the Healthy Child Healthy Futures Programme may be missed due to Health Visitors having to prioritise safeguarding and immunisations, due to a low funded staffing establishment. This risk is compounded, on occasions, by spikes in sickleave.