Tipperary TD Michael Lowry says the idea to use the recently completed but vacant Community Nursing Unit(CNU) in Nenagh to provide step down beds for UHL for a period of 18 – 24 months is only a proposal at this stage.
Deputy Lowry says that ULHG management put forward the proposal to the Department of Health as a temporary solution to the current overcrowding crisis.
So far no information about the proposal has been issued by the Hospital Group, the HSE or the Department of Health.
The 62 bed CNU was built following HIQA reports finding deficits in the St Conlon’s Nursing Home in Nenagh and it was completed late last year.
The Nenagh Needs it’s A & E campaign group says it strongly rejects this proposal.
It is understood that neither the campaign group nor the management at St Conlon’s were consulted or briefed on the proposal.
Nenagh Needs it’s A & E group says it does not support the use of the CNU for step down beds or respite beds under any circumstances and adds that the solution to UHL overcrowding should not come at the expense of Ireland’s growing elderly population.
The group says there is confusion about what is being proposed as the HSE has not issued any information.
The Group adds that this uncertainty what it calls “possible political kite-flying is irresponsible and grossly unfair to staff at St Conlon’s, the current residents, and the wider community.”
The group is firmly of the view that the new CNU in Nenagh should not be a casualty of what it terms “the failed reconfiguration implemented in 2009” when the Accident and Emergency Departments in Nenagh, St John’s Limerick and Ennis were closed leaving the UHL ED the only one serving the Mid West Region.
There were 72 admitted patients on trolleys in UHL on Monday March 11th.
