CALLS have been made for the HSE to reverse the temporary closure of the 24-hour community residence, Saol Nua in Skibbereen.
Both staff and its four residents were only given a week’s notice about the move while it has emerged that the residents will now be sharing bedrooms.
Cork South West TD and leader of the Social Democrats, Holly Cairns said that the HSE stated the temporary closure is due to the need to reallocate staff for the centre to Bantry Centre for Mental Healthcare and Recovery, which was officially reopened on Wednesday.
‘This was a long-scheduled reopening and staffing decisions should have been made long in advance without the need to allocate staff from Saol Nua,’ she told The Southern Star.
‘The decision to temporarily close Saol Nua is devastating for the four residents who call Saol Nua their home. While they will be moved to Perrott House in the same complex, I have been told that they will be moving from single-bed accommodation to shared bedrooms in Perrott House.’
Deputy Cairns said this loss of privacy as well as the loss of the staff, who they have built up trust and caring relationships with is ‘incredibly disruptive’ to vulnerable patients.
‘With the amalgamation of residential beds across the services, this will no doubt have an impact on the availability of respite services in the area. There is already a severe lack of respite services in Cork and the loss of any existing services would be devastating for residents and their families and carers.’
She was also critical of a week’s notice of the temporary closure.
‘Given how far in advance the reopening of the Bantry Centre was planned, there is no absolutely no excuse for this short notice. Saol Nua is the exact kind of service we need to replicate and support in our health service, not reallocate their staffing resources elsewhere.’
A spokesperson for HSE Cork Kerry Community Healthcare said that as an interim measure to facilitate the reopening of the Bantry Centre for Mental Healthcare and Recovery, the decision was made to temporarily redeploy staff rostered in Saol Nua.
‘On July 26th the four residents were offered alternative accommodation in either Perrott House or our other community residence in Bantry, with the appropriate supports in place.’
‘As both are community residences in close proximity, no differentiation is made in the level of care delivered to the residents of both community residences.
They reiterated that this is temporary measure, which they expected will be addressed once recruitment campaigns to address current staffing vacancies are completed.
Meanwhile, Cork South West Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivans said the reopening of the Bantry Centre for Mental Healthcare and Recovery is the result of an important and much needed investment but says the focus must now turn to the provision of a purpose built and dedicated facility in West Cork.
‘What’s needed here is a state-of-the art, fit-for- purpose centre for mental healthcare to serve the far greater needs of the West Cork area.’
