HSE denies claims that rehab unit in psychiatric facility is to close

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) Mid-West has rejected a claim by SIPTU that a rehabilitation unit at St Joseph’s Psychiatric Hospital is being shut down without any plans for an alternative facility.

The HSE accused SIPTU of deliberately causing alarm among psychiatric patients and their families.

A HSE spokesman said: “The facts, as known to consultants, nurses, and everybody working in St Joseph’s, are that Ashleigh Lodge is not closing, it is being upgraded and improved and rehabilitation services are being increased.”

Ashleigh Lodge Rehabilitation Centre provides a specialised rehabilitation service for patients who have been discharged from St Joseph’s Hospital prior to relocation to residential accommodation in the community.

The patients in the centre are in the process of being placed in community residential accommodation.

The HSE spokesman said: “This process requires a significant amount of planning and consultation with the patients and their families and is due to be completed before the end of August. A natural break will then occur which will allow for maintenance and upgrading works to be carried out at the centre.”

He said the intention is to base the new specialist rehabilitation team for Limerick at the centre.

“This will be of immense benefit for people requiring psychiatric rehabilitation in the Limerick area — whether such persons are living in the community or are in residence in St Joseph’s Hospital. It is proposed that the Ashleigh Lodge Centre will reopen with a new group of residents to coincide with the commencement of services by the new rehabilitation team, which is expected in the coming months,” said the spokesman.