THE HSE plans to reduce services in a unit catering for 17 people suffering with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia at Cherry Orchard Hospital in Ballyfermot in Dublin.
Due to staff shortages, eight patients in the Laurel unit will be transferred to vacant beds around the hospital in the coming weeks, while the other nine patients will remain in the unit.
There are 22 nursing vacancies in the hospital that cannot be filled due to the public service recruitment embargo and the Health Service Executive (HSE) anticipates an added strain on services during the summer months when the number of staff on annual leave peaks.
It is understood the HSE informed patients’ relatives in May they plan to combine services between the Laurel unit and an adjacent unit on a long-term basis due to staff shortages.
However, campaigners opposing the HSE’s proposal are concerned operations at the hospital will be scaled back until the Laurel unit eventually closes.
Local councillor Brid Smith of People Before Profit called on the HSE to look at the possibility of employing temporary staff to cover the anticipated shortages caused by nurses taking leave.
“A directive exists allowing the recruitment of temporary front line service employees for up to 40 days. Why can’t the HSE employ the required staff temporarily to cover nurses taking annual leave,” she asked. “This is the third time in as many years that local campaigners have fought against proposed cutbacks at the hospital. The problems get worse every year. Last year there were 14 nursing vacancies, this year there is an extra eight vacancies.”
In its statement, the HSE stresses that transferring patients will be overseen by nursing management to ensure minimal discomfort to residents. For the last seven years, Ann Curley’s 80-year-old mother has lived in the Laurel unit, requiring constant care and supervision.
“The nurses in the unit know my mother better then I do at this stage of her life. I don’t know if she’ll be transferred to another unit or if she will stay in the Laurel unit with minimal staff.
“I don’t think the HSE understand that transferring patients could have a serious affect on their wellbeing,” said Ms Curley.