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Closure of Welfare Homes by HSE

The Health Service Executive (HSE) plans to close a number of welfare homes throughout Ireland, maintaining that the closures are due to health and safety reasons.

Welfare homes due to close include Bethany House in Carlow, St Patrick's Hospital in Waterford, Orchard Nursing Home in Bray, Co. Wicklow and Heatherside Hospital in Buttevant, Co Cork. Closure of these facilities will result in the relocation of elderly patients to "unfamiliar" wards, which results in an upheaval in their lifestyle and an imposition that could otherwise be avoided.

Serious concern has been expressed by the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and Age Action Ireland in relation to the closure of vital healthcare services for the elderly. As patient advocates, the INO is campaigning to encourage the HSE to rescind its plans for closure of public home nursing beds. A spokesman for Age Action Ireland, Eamon Timmins, voiced his concern about the reasons for closure and the effect it would have on the elderly people's health, when he stated that "transferring older people from one home to another can be very traumatic" and that the closure should only be implemented as a last resort, when the cost of refurbishment is prohibitive.

Liz Curran from the INO raised suspicions that the HSE are closing facilities in order to cut costs under the pretext that it is due to health and safety reasons. She brought to light the fact that the HSE denied an offer from the friends of St Patrick's Hospital to refurbish the ward and a spokesperson for the INO also stated that "the HSE has not yet provided unions with the fire and health and safety reports, on which they claim to base their decision to close the ward".

An independent review compiled by the HSE states that the closure of Bethany House in Carlow is due to "increasing levels of dependencies" and "lack of facilities to provide appropriate care". The closure of Bethany House in Carlow will result in the upheaval of 26 residents of the welfare home. Local councillors are irate at the manner in which the HSE dealt with the situation, in particular Clr Rody Kelly who stated that they were given "totally misleading information" when they enquired about the situation of Bethany House.

Prior to Christmas, a brand new nursing home in Kilkenny, Tennypark Nursing Home was forced to close its facility without notice due to funding problems with the HSE. This may reinforce Liz Curran's suspicions that the underlying reason for the "erosion of welfare home services" throughout Ireland is due to cost cutting under the guise of health and safety.

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