Decision to close Owenacurra mental health facility 'a matter of concern'

The proposed closure has been the subject of frenzied opposition from the residents of the centre in the 12 months since the decision was announced

The Owenacurra mental health facility in Midleton. Picture: Howard Crowdy

The decision to close the Owenacurra mental health facility in Midleton has been referred by the Oireachtas health committee to the board of the HSE “as a matter of concern”.

The referral, a rare move for the committee, requests that the HSE’s board — reconvened in 2019 after an eight-year absence — “intervene and overturn this closure decision”.

It further requests that there be an independent inquiry into the “decision-making that led to this closure decision”, and to other decisions regarding accommodation in the Cork region, such as the purchase of former B&B Glenwood House in Carrigaline for €750,000 in January 2021 — a facility which has remained vacant ever since.

It is the latest development in the saga surrounding the centre’s protracted closure, news of which was first delivered by the HSE in June of last year due to the Owenacurra structure, in the executive’s estimation, no longer being fit for purpose.

The committee’s letter — signed by chair Seán Crowe — suggests that the reasons advanced for shutting Owenacurra “are not credible grounds for such a drastic service decision in East Cork”, and would “if applied elsewhere, lead to widespread closures of other mental health facilities”.

In escalating its complaint to the HSE board, the committee has echoed its requests to the Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler earlier this year to overturn the decision to close.

The proposed closure has been the subject of frenzied opposition from the remaining 11 residents of the centre, many of whom have lived there for decades, and their family members in the 12 months since the decision was announced.

Owenacurra had initially been slated for closure last October, but remains open with no alternative accommodation having as yet been sourced for the remaining residents.

In its letter, the health committee alleges, in direct contradiction of both the HSE and Ms Butler’s previous statements on the matter, that “no independent reports have... supported the HSE’s position that the Owenacurra building issues are beyond repair”.

It states that the closure of Owenacurra would be the opposite of the ‘rights-based, person-centred approach’ advocated for in the HSE’s own Vision for Change mental health strategy.

The letter adds that the HSE’s recent suggestions that a number of replacement properties are under consideration in the Midleton area would take “several years” to come to fruition, and suggests that the HSE’s assertion that no meeting minutes or records of deliberations exist regarding the closure decision is “not credible”.

“We are very grateful to the health committee for continuing to pursue a reversal of this closure and for their detailed refutation of the HSE’ rationale,” said Liam Quaide, a local Green Party councillor for East Cork.

“We are appealing to the HSE board to defend the rights of people in East Cork who require intensive rehabilitation and 24-hour staffed placement to live in their own community,” he added.

A spokesperson for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare said that “advice from construction experts” had led to the decision to close Owenacurra.

“No detail has ever been provided or proposals made as to how this could be accomplished in a realistic way,” they added with regard to the contention that the current site could be refurbished “in a safe and cost-effective manner".