HSE confirm no one facility will close entirely
A quarter of all public beds for the elderly in the Mid West are facing the axe.
This follows the announcement that the National Health Service Executive is to make €750 million in cuts to its budget this year.
The HSE in Limerick has confirmed to the Limerick Post that up to 85 more beds in the Mid West’s nine public elderly care units could be lost, which would bring to 22.5% the number closed since last September.
While there is no figure for the number to go in Limerick, it is expected that city and county, having the largest elderly care facilities, will bear the brunt of the closures.
The HSE confirmed that it reduced the number of beds by 65 in September 2011, “because of the reductions in available staff and our inability to replace them due to the moratorium on the cost of agency staff”.
In a statement to the Limerick Post, the HSE says: “It has to access this year’s budget and the numbers of staff who will finally leave by the end of February due to public service pension changes, and then make a determination as to the number of beds it can safely continue to provide.
“While no specific bed numbers have been identified at any one site, it is anticipated that between 50 and 85 beds will possibly be reduced across the Mid West out of the existing public elderly care bed stock of 600, but it is important to stress that there will be adequate public information and notification in advance of any such change”.
The statement also says that while numbers of beds may have to be identified in various facilities, no one facility will close altogether.
The Limerick Division of the Senior Citizens’ Parliament has condemned the proposed closures.
“Elderly people need care and they need it promptly. The problem is that there is no care plan in place and there needs to be a plan involving nursing homes, public care and community care but there is none,” said spokesperson Paul Walsh.
He added that the bed closures are further evidence of broken promises.
“This government was elected on a promise that there would be no cuts to front-line services, yet that is exactly what is happening across the board”.
