Families of thousands of people using St John of God mental health and disability services have said they are “deeply concerned” at the voluntary organisation’s decision to stop running the services.
St John of God Community Services, part of the wider St John of God Hospitaller Services Group, is funded by the HSE to provide services to 8,000 children and adults on behalf of the State.
On Friday the healthcare provider announced it would be handing over responsibility for its community services to the HSE by the middle of August. The voluntary organisation has been in negotiations with the HSE for several years over what it claims is a significant shortfall in its funding.
The organisation, one of the largest voluntary providers of residential care for people with intellectual disabilities, said the level of State funding provided is not sufficient to cover the cost of providing appropriate care.
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In a statement on Saturday, the National Parents and Families Association of St John Of God, said it was “alarmed” at the uncertainty caused to patients and residents by the decision to have the HSE takeover the services.
The representative group said it would “strongly urge” St John of God and the HSE to return to the negotiating table, to try to resolve the disagreement over funding.
The failure to find an agreement on sufficient levels of funding despite three years of talks had been a “devastating” setback for parents and families of those using St John of God’s services, the statement said.
“We urge an immediate resumption of discussions and full transparency in the interest of our vulnerable citizens. These vulnerable people deserve no less,” it said.
St John of God employs around 3,000 staff and provides care to 2,500 people with intellectual disabilities, as well as 5,500 adult and youth patients in mental health services.
Correspondence shows the organisation told the HSE last month if it did not secure a bailout of more than €30 million in funding it would have to shut. In 2020 it threatened to hand responsibility for its community services over to the HSE, with that decision paused following promised negotiations over a new funding model.
Clare Dempsey, chief executive of the voluntary provider, said in the absence of any new agreement on future funding the organisation had decided to hand over responsibility for its services to the HSE later this year.
In a statement, the HSE said it was “shocked and disappointed” by St John of God’s decision, “and the manner in which they have chosen to communicate that to families”.
Bernard Gloster, HSE chief executive, said he did not accept St John of God’s declaration that services would need to be handed over to the HSE by August 15th.
“If despite substantial assistance in a €200 million grant to SJOG annually, they remain insistent on withdrawing from service provision then we will require them to do so in an orderly and appropriate fashion having regard to the rights of service users and their staff,” he said.
The wider St John of God Hospitaller Services Group will continue to run its 180-bed psychiatric hospital in Stillorgan, Dublin, and its dementia care facility Saint Joseph’s, Shankill.
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