Redevelopment: The families of elderly patients housed in two units on the campus of Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin, have expressed concern that their loved ones are to be moved to an unknown location in coming months when the units are handed over to a private developer.
The developer bought the land on which the two units are located some years ago and the Health Service Executive (HSE) has to hand over the property to the builder later this year.
Representatives of the hospital invited families of patients in the two units to a meeting and told them of the situation.
But relatives of two patients in Unit 1 contacted The Irish Times to say they were extremely unhappy that management were unable to say where their relatives would be moved to.
As Jackie Reid, the daughter of a 79-year-old woman in the unit, put it, the elderly residents "are to be evicted in October without hospital management being able to supply families and relatives with any information regarding their relocation".
She added that the residents would almost certainly be traumatised by the upheaval of relocation, especially if they were sent outside the Connolly Hospital campus "without the staff on whom they have grown to trust and depend on and indeed regard as extended family".
Furthermore, she said, if her mother, who has been in the unit for three years, were moved to a place inaccessible to her family who now visit her seven days a week it would greatly affect her care and wellbeing.
Critically, she says, the hospital has been aware for years that it would have to hand over the land on which the units were located to a builder and should therefore have a definite plan in place at this stage for the relocation of their residents.
The granddaughter of another elderly resident, who preferred not to be named, said she was very worried about the impact moving her would have on her 91-year-old granny, who has been in Unit 1 for the past five years.
"It's ridiculous they are treating these people like this. They are tossed aside because they have no voice even though they worked all their lives," she said.
The HSE, in a statement yesterday, said it was examining options for relocating the residents. It was "looking at options both on and off site" and families would be kept informed, it said.
It added that whatever accommodation was found for the residents now would be an interim measure as it planned ultimately to rehouse them on the Blanchardstown campus when services for the elderly were improved there. It expects these improvements to be in place in about 16 months.
"As part of the overall development of Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, an enhanced service will be provided at an upgraded facility within the campus for services for the elderly [ Unit 1] and psychiatry of old age service [ Unit 3]. The work required to complete the range of moves necessary to relocate Units 1 and 3 will be completed in September/October 2007. Pending redevelopment that will accommodate the new services, it will be necessary on an interim basis to re-locate the current units," the HSE said.
"Continuity of care is paramount for the patients in Units 1 and 3 and it is our policy to maintain staff and patients together in a suitable temporary location.
"The HSE are currently drawing up contingency plans, looking at options both on and off site. The families will be kept informed," it added.