Elderly mental health patients to be transferred to new city community unit

THE 30 remaining mental health patients at a hospital in north Cork will be transferred to a new facility in Cork city by the end of the year.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) said yesterday it planned to relocate the patients to the newly constructed 50-bed community nursing unit at St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital in the third quarter of 2010.

Heatherside Hospital, near Buttevant, has for a number of years provided accommodation primarily for older people with enduring mental health issues.

The hospital, built in 1909, served for many years as a tuberculosis sanatorium, before being designated a mental health facility.

Many of the geriatric patients actually come from the Cork city area. Some of them have been cared for at Heatherside for up to 50 years.

A HSE spokesman said that Heatherside Hospital is now registered under the HIQA legislation and is subject to inspection under the statutory residential and care standards for older people.

He said the present building was unsuitable for the needs of patients and would require major capital investment in order to meet new Residential Care Standards.

Deputy Sean Sherlock (Labour) called on the HSE to turn the hospital into a nursing home but a lack of finance in the HSE was likely to see thatrequest turned down, at least in the short to medium term.

“As no such funding is available, or likely to be available within the three-year timeframe allowed to improve older infrastructure, the relocation of the residents to the new Community Nursing Unit in St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital will allow for the maximum use of existing resources and meet residents’ service needs in line with current legislation,” a HSE spokesman said.

He said, in the meantime, the HSE remains fully committed to meeting health and safety obligations and maintaining the highest possible standards of care for the remaining 30 residents at Heatherside until the hospital is vacated.