Patients not ‘coerced’ to leave Midleton facility, HSE says

The HSE also confirmed that a new-build 10-bed mental health facility for Midleton will be built on the Owenacurra site itself

Owenacurra was slated for closure by the HSE in June of 2021, citing the perceived poor standard of the 1970s-era building as a primary reason. Picture: Howard Crowdy

The HSE has denied that residents of the Owenacurra mental health facility in Midleton were “coerced” into leaving the facility despite having to move against their wishes.

At a meeting of the Oireachtas petitions committee to discuss the closing of vital services in three counties, the chair of the committee, Martin Browne, suggested to the HSE’s witnesses that given the 14 residents who have left Owenacurra to date did so “contrary to their express wishes”, that the matter amounted to “coercion any way you look at it”.