By Adrian Mullan

a.mullan@ulsterherald.com

The Chief Officer of the Western Health and Social Services Council, the independent watchdog body which represents the interests of social service and hospital users here, said she is 'flabbergasted' at the degree of failure in Social Services leading up to the Lammy fire which took the lives of seven members of the same family.

Speaking this week following the publication of the Toner Review which assessed the performance of the various agencies leading up to the fire on November 13 last, Maggie Reilly said that there is no question but that the McElhill/McGovern family and others were failed by the system.

She said that the council is deeply concerned about the series of failings chronicled in the report.

The assertion that the specific tragedy was not predictable was something of a red herring; the proper interventions by social services at the proper time could have changed the course of events.

She feared that the same lessons were being identified time and time again, but in fact they were not being learned.

However, whereas she saw it as a failure along the entire line from management to practitioners. She stressed that sufficient resources had to be available to the service.

"You can't have a stripped-down department; you need staff to manage cases."

She added that auditing of services was also vital to ensure that the procedures were being properly followed.

The Western Health and Social Services Council, does not have the statutory powers to act in such cases and relies on the Trust listening to its concerns.

The Western Health and Social Services Trust was set up in May of last year. It took the place of the controversy-ridden Sperrin Lakeland Trust. Already, however, the new Trust is coming in for severe criticism and senior management figures are facing calls for their resignation.