A plan to move patients out of a geriatric unit opened a year ago in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and use the beds for acute patients for the next 18 months, is causing local outrage.
A delegation led by the mayor, Mr Sean Nyhan, will meet the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, tomorrow to outline the extent of opposition to the plan to move elderly patients from St Anthony's Unit and place them in nursing homes.
The South Eastern Health Board says it needs to use the unit to alleviate bed shortages at St Joseph's Hospital in Clonmel.
Campaigners against the move expect to have 10,000 signatures supporting their stance by the end of the week.
Mr Nyhan says the move makes "second-class citizens" of the elderly patients and he has never seen a campaign gather momentum in such a short time. Several hundred people attended a public meeting about the issue in Clonmel last week.
In a statement to The Irish Times yesterday, the health board said it was "reexamining the range of options" in light of opposition to the move.
However, relatives of the patients at St Anthony's will not rest until the board announces a reversal of the decision. They say options including legal action and a sit-in will be used if necessary.
The unit, opened in June last year, has 27 beds, including 14 for long-stay Alzheimer's, stroke and other patients. It has a waiting list for admission and is regarded as one of the finest dedicated geriatric units in the State. In opening it, the health board said it was delivering on its strategy for the elderly, published in 1999, entitled Towards the Golden Years.
The board says the intention is to use the unit for acute admissions for 18 months and then revert to its use as a geriatric unit once development work at St Joseph's is complete. Families of the patients at St Anthony's say the elderly are a "soft option" and the board should consider alternatives.
The row has also raised questions over the £815,000 allocated by the Government to St Joseph's during the Tipperary South by-election campaign to reduce bed shortages at the hospital.
It was intended that the money be used to provide short-term, temporary accommodation, but the health board says even this would take "up to 12 months", allowing for the planning process and the need for equipment.
Instead, the board is to add the Government funding to £1 million already allocated under the National Development Plan to provide a permanent structure with 22 beds. A spokeswoman said it had been decided this was "a more prudent investment".
Local politicians, however, say the by-election money was specifically intended to address a short-term problem and this is one of the issues that will be raised with the Minister tomorrow. All three local TDs - Minister of State Mr Noel Davern, Mr Seamus Healy and Mr Tom Hayes - support the families' campaign and will attend the meeting.
Ms Anne Taylor, chairwoman of the Friends of St Anthony's group which is fighting the board's decision, said patients at the unit require a high level of support which could not be given in nursing homes. Separating them from other patients and staff they had come to know and trust would be stressful.
Her 76-year-old father, Mr Eddie Cantwell, has Alzheimer's and is a patient at the unit. "He knows the other people there and it really is like a home. It's a very open, friendly environment. Families are prepared to do whatever it takes to prevent this move from taking place."
The health board said services in Tipperary South were being expanded to include paediatrics and care of the elderly, and in the future a fully-integrated general hospital service would be provided on one site.
The "unprecedented" changes taking place could not be completed without disruption and every element of the service was feeling the strain, the health board said.
"Even during the summer months additional beds on the corridors of St Joseph's Hospital are a regular feature."
A number of local options to alleviate the pressure on bed space had been explored, and St Anthony's "was considered the only viable option". The spokeswoman stressed that the nursing home beds would be paid for by the board and families assisted with travelling costs.
