INO claims care unit is lying idle

The Irish Nurses Organisation has today said that an elderly care unit at Birr, Co Offaly is lying idle at a cost of €70,000 a year.

According to the INO, the state-of-the-art unit has been unused since its completion in 2002, despite an agreement on staffing the 90-bed facility.

The INO have claimed the Midland Health Board now wants to open just part of the unit.

Elderly patients in the area are losing out as a result, a spokesman said.