On the 17th of November the Irish Independent published an article on complaints at St. Michael's House that was inaccurate and misleading. Following correspondence between St. Michael's and the managing editor an apology to services users, parents, families and staff of St Michael’s House for the distress caused was published on Saturday 12th December

In addition the Irish Independent has agreed to sponsor an activity for service users in 2010 

Irish Independent

Saturday 12 December 2009

St Michael’s House

In a recent article in the Irish Independent under the headline “Litany of Problems Revealed at Care Centres”, allegations were made about St Michael’s House.  It has been brought to our attention that the words “litany” and “raft” exaggerated the number of complaints received by St Michael’s House.  Only seven complaints in 2008 and five in 2009 were received for a service which provides for 1,600 service users in 160 centres.

Further, it has been pointed out that the article in using material from complaints files twice used the term “punched” instead of “pushed” and that the label “violence” on a case study heading was sensationalist.  The article also omitted the word “Friday” when referring to the administration of a drug, thereby implying that the drug was given in a two-hour period instead of four days.  In one specific case and related incidents, it has been pointed out that there is no evidence that they related to St Michael’s House.

We acknowledge that St Michael’s House Complaints Policy and Procedure is in line with the HSE Complaints Procedure and is independently accredited by the International Council of Quality and Leadership.  We are happy to correct these matters and apologise to the parents, families, service users and staff of St Michael’s House for the distress caused.