Unions call for halt to Nenagh nursing home plan
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called on the HSE to call halt to plans to repurpose the long-awaited community nursing unit in Nenagh.
INMO official, Karen Liston, said: “The decision by the HSE to repurpose the new nursing home in Nenagh into a step-down facility for University Hospital Limerick without consulting unions and patients who were anxiously waiting to move from St Conlon’s Nursing Home is extremely disappointing.
“Nursing staff and the residents of St Conlon’s Nursing Home deserve to be treated in their state-of-the art facility that was promised to them and that would meet HIQA standards.
“It has been reported in the media that this proposed step-down facility will be outsourced to a private provider. The INMO cannot stand over the further outsourcing of a public health service. The residents of St Conlon’s and the wider Nenagh community were promised a publicly funded and run service for care of older people. It is not acceptable for the HSE to change their minds at the last minute.”
SIPTU VOICE CONCERN
SIPTU members in St Conlon’s Community Nursing Unit (CNU) in Nenagh, County Tipperary, have expressed deep concern at reports that a new building that was to cater for residents may instead be used as a step-down facility for University Hospital Limerick patients. SIPTU Organiser, Mark Quinn, said: “Our members at St Conlon’s CNU were preparing to move residents to the new state-of-the-art facility. However, they are concerned by media reports that the facility will now not be used for its original purpose but rather as a step-down facility for University Hospital Limerick patients. Their concern has been further heightened by suggestions that a private provider will manage the step-down facility. “The reports that the newly built facility will not be used for its original purpose is also of grave concern to St Conlon’s CNU residents and the wider community. The idea that a private company will provide services out of a state-of-the-art building, which has been built using significant state funding, is extraordinary. “This is all the more disheartening when it is considered that the building project progressed following concerns raised by the Health Information and Quality Authority regarding St Conlon’s CNU and its current suitability to adequately provide services for residents. “SIPTU has raised its objections to this plan formally with the HSE and is awaiting a response. We have made our intention clear that we will use all options available to us as a Union to secure the best possible outcome for the staff of St Conlon’s CNU, the residents that depend on its services and the broader community of Nenagh.”