Owenacurra campaigners criticise lack of engagement from HSE

New management of Cork/Kerry mental health services described as 'more opaque' than predecessors

The Save Owenacurra campaign has been calling for a halt to the centre's closure for two years.  Picture: Howard Crowdy

The new management of Cork/Kerry mental health services has been described as “more opaque” than its predecessors by a group which campaigned to halt the closure of a Midleton mental health centre.

The Save Owenacurra campaign, which has been calling for a halt to that closure for nearly two years, had previously criticised the local HSE for the lengthy wait for responses to freedom of information requests amongst other related matters.

The campaign now says that a request for an in-person meeting with HSE Cork/Kerry’s new head of mental health services and its new general manager, on foot of concerns about the HSE’s goals for a number of replacement services in Midleton have gone unanswered.

Meanwhile, a freedom of information query to the HSE requesting notes supporting a meeting held in 2019 at which the sale of Owenacurra was first mooted is now eight months overdue.

Three of the most significant positions in HSE Cork/Kerry have seen a change in personnel over the past 12 months.

Former chief officer Michael Fitzgerald took early retirement last March while the former general manager, and interim head of mental health services both moved to new positions within the HSE.

However, prominent Owenacurra campaigner and local councillor Liam Quaide said that relations between the campaign and the HSE have, if anything, worsened, since the changes at administrative level within the local executive.

"A defining feature of the Owenacurra campaign was meeting brick walls when trying to access information on the closure,” Mr Quaide said.

“If anything those walls seem more impenetrable under the new HSE management team," he said.

A HSE spokesperson said the service “acknowledge and deeply regret the fact that there have been delays in recent months in responding to some requests for information from mental health services”, adding that those delays have resulted due to "administrative reasons” They said that the HSE is “working intensively to clear any backlog as quickly as possible”, and is committed to being “open and transparent”.

Regarding the lack of response to a request for a private meeting with the new general manager of the service, the spokesperson did not deal with the matter directly but said that the HSE is “committed to fostering positive relationships with all the many communities across Cork and Kerry where our facilities are located”.

In terms of the future for the six remaining Owenacurra residents, meanwhile, the HSE said merely that “the team at the centre continue to work with residents and families regarding placement options”.

Of those six, the HSE had previously confirmed that a 3-person house it had purchased in the Lauriston area of Midleton will be ready for occupation later this year, while it continues to “explore options for a second property in the area”.

The outstanding FOI, meanwhile was lodged by Mr Quaide on January 6, and requested documents underpinning a meeting regarding rebuild costs for long-stay psychiatric units which was held in May 2019, together with meeting minutes of the Owenacurra closure steering group since 2021, and all minutes from meetings concerning Glenwood House in Carrigaline – a former B&B bought by the HSE in January 2021 as a basis for a new 24-hour residential mental health centre, which has yet to open.

At the May 2019 meeting, the sale of Owenacurra was discussed for the first documented time, two years before the HSE said it must close due to no longer being fit for purpose.