ELDERLY residents at the Abbeyleix community nursing unit in Co Laois have vowed to fight against the proposed closure of the facility.
The Health Service Executive has decided to close the unit because of funding and staffing issues and envisaged future problems in meeting standards set out by the Health Information and Quality Authority.
News of the closure has caused widespread concern in the area and more than 1,000 people attended a public meeting on Monday night.
As a result of the planned closure 28 long-stay residents are to be moved and 42 nurses and assistants will be redeployed. Alternative respite care is to be arranged for eight patients.
Speaking outside the hospital yesterday, 92-year-old resident Bridget O’Neill described the residents’ treatment as unfair.
“We are happy here. This is our home and the majority of people in there, that are in that hospital, they are not able to speak for themselves. They don’t even know where they are and they are going to be fired around from one place to another, that’s not fair,” Ms O’Neill said.
“I think it is very unfair. I am 92 years of age, I know very well what I am talking about. I have my senses the same as I had 50, 40 years ago . . . I’m not leaving there without a fight,” she said.
Another resident, 89-year-old Mary McCartney, has been living at the hospital for eight years. “I love it in here, it’s like home to me; the way we are treated and everything else. I’m not going out of here, I’m telling you now, until they take me out in a box,” she said.
The unit has become home to the residents, said Ann Thompson, whose 93-year-old mother Catherine Kelly has lived there for seven years. Ms Kelly, who will turn 94 in January, said: “I want to stay here because this is our home.”
Chairman of the Abbeyleix and District Hospital Action Committee Brian Maher described the nursing unit as “a key part of our community”. “The people who we have here, the elderly, are part of our community and they want to continue for the rest of their lives in that community so it is essential that it remains as part of Abbeyleix,” said Mr Maher.
Apart from the social impact, Mr Maher questioned the feasibility of the closure. He said the HSE would struggle to find community nursing places and many would have to be placed in private nursing homes.
Secretary of the action group Karen Shiel said that only a month ago Hiqa had issued a statement that it had no issue with the nursing unit. “This is the first hospital that has been targeted that is actually up to standard,” she said.
HSE Midlands area manager Joseph Ruane said a decision to close the nursing unit had not been taken easily and all alternative options had been considered.
“Unfortunately in this case, because of reducing staff numbers and our paramount concern regarding the welfare of residents, we had to decide to close Abbeyleix community nursing unit,” he said.
He said consultation was taking place between the residents, their families and the HSE with a view to moving the residents to both private and public units.
Abbeyleix and District Hospital Action Committee has called for public support.
