Big cuts to addiction services ‘will cause havoc’
The Psychiatric Nurses’ Association made the claim after senior management in HSE Dublin Mid-Leinster cut agency worker numbers in half in a bid to curb the service’s runaway budget.
The move, which could save €200,000, has seen the number of agency workers in the outreach service fall from 16 to eight. While exact cuts for addiction clinics — set up 12 years ago as one-stop shops for treatment — in other HSE regions have not yet been announced, the Dublin Mid-Leinster change is expected to be repeated elsewhere shortly.
