HSE had initial plan to move Owenacurra residents to dormitory settings

The HSE repeatedly claimed that it has handled the closure of Owenacurra in a 'sensitive manner' with the needs of those living there at the forefront

The HSE has repeatedly claimed that it has handled the closure of Owenacurra, which has yet to fully transpire with nine residents still in situ, in a “sensitive manner” with the needs of those living there to the forefront.

The HSE's initial plan for the residents of the Owenacurra mental health facility was to move them to dormitory settings in a number of remote locations, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

Last December the executive clinical director for the Cork/Kerry region Dr Sinead O’Brien dismissed suggestions that one of those facilities - St Stephen’s Hospital in Glanmire - was being mooted as a replacement facility for Owenacurra.

At the Oireachtas Health Committee that month, Dr O’Brien said: “St Stephen’s campus is not actually being suggested as a suitable location based on individuals’ assessed needs”.

She added that she recognised that St Stephen’s “needs significant investment”.

However, five months previously in July 2021 Dr O’Brien wrote to the acting head of mental health services for Cork/Kerry Kevin Morrison regarding the Owenacurra closure, which had only just been announced at that time, saying that she was “most concerned that it has been proposed that only 7 beds are available in St Stephen’s campus”.

Also in July 2021, Dr O’Brien received word that two possible beds could be available for Owenacurra residents at Mount Alvernia, an old age facility in remote north Cork, roughly 40 miles from Midleton, per documents released to local councillor Liam Quaide and Green TD Neasa Hourigan following an appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Two of Owenacurra’s former complement of 19 residents have to date relocated to St Stephen’s. Last March, the Mental Health Commission raised “serious concerns” over the facility’s slowness in addressing critical and high-risk non-compliances.

"It's deeply troubling that Owenacurra residents were told by management they would be moving elsewhere because they deserved better, and yet the aim was to transfer significant numbers to dorm-style wards in an isolated setting,” Mr Quaide said of the news that St Stephen’s had initially been a preferred destination for the transferring residents from the HSE’s point of view.

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“This would be a drastic change from having a single room in a town centre location with ease of access to the local community - essentially re-institutionalising those residents," he added.

The HSE has repeatedly claimed that it has handled the closure of Owenacurra, which has yet to fully transpire with 9 residents still in situ, in a “sensitive manner” with the needs of those living there to the forefront.

In his address to the Oireachtas petitions committee on Thursday afternoon, Michael Fitzgerald, chief officer for Cork Kerry community healthcare and the man who officially made the decision to close Owenacurra, said that the process “is being handled with sensitivity and with regard to the wishes and preferences of each individual resident and aligned to their current needs”.

“Residents are settling into their new homes and continue to receive support in a more appropriate environment,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

Mr Quaide took issue with this statement, comparing the accommodation standards of Unit 3 at St Stephen's unfavourably with the town-centre location of the Owenacurra centre in Midleton.

“How is a shared room in a locked ward in a remote area – which has an antiquated staff culture according to the Mental Health Commision – a more appropriate setting than a single room, town centre location with ease of access to the local community?” he asked.

At the same committee Sinn Fein’s Pat Buckley, who has been the most vocally supportive of the Owenacurra residents of all the local TDs, was also critical of the HSE’s plans regarding alternative placements in St Stephen’s and St Finbarr's Hospitals.

“You're moving residents because of compliance issues but you're moving them to facilities that are less compliant,” he said, adding that to do so is “like saying 'we're going to take them out of a hotel room and put them into a mobile home".

Multiple residents of the Owenacurra centre and their families have expressed anger at the HSE’s perceived lack of communication with those affected regarding the planned closure since its announcement in June 2021, which the HSE insists is due solely to the building no longer being fit for purpose.