St Vincent's on course to re-open in March

ST VINCENT’S Care Centre in Athlone is on schedule to re-open in late March, as three-quarters of the work has now been completed.

That was the message delivered from HSE representatives at a meeting of Athlone Municipal District on Monday.

Head of primary care for the region Joe Ruane had a simple update for councillors: “I’m pleased to say it’s on target.”

The hospital has been closed since last July when all patients were relocated to other facilities in Birr and Longford, to facilitate emergency electrical works.

Mr Ruane’s colleague Brian O’Connell, who has liaised with the contractors on site, added that 75% of the work has been completed. “We are in line for completion at the end of March,” he said.

In addition to rewiring, other works “as feasible” were also being undertaken. This includes redecoration, while some of the larger rooms were being split into smaller areas using solid partitions which replaced temporary partitions.

“Where we could improve the comfort levels we have done it,” he said.
Staff, residents and their families were keep updated on the progress, the meeting was told.

Mr Ruane said: “Clearly we want all the residents to come back to Athlone. If they want to stay in Birr or Longford they can. Our priority is to open the beds in Athlone. Our intention and our plan is for all staff to return to Athlone. That’s the plan.”

He said that staff have been updated by memo and face-to-face meetings with staff will take place on February 16 (Birr) and February 20 (Longford).

Residents will be returned to St Vincent’s on a phased basis over a number of weeks, along the lines of 10 beds per week. There are no outstanding issues as far as HIQA is concerned, said Mr Ruane.

There are 44 beds in St Vincent’s; 40 are long-stay beds and four are palliative care. There will be no change in the number of beds at the centre when it re-opens.

The meeting was told that the hospice section of St Vincent’s remained open while the work has been ongoing and this will continue to be the case during the remaining works. Currently, there are three residents in the hospice.

Fine Gael Councillor Tom Farrell said that the residents would like to get back to their own surroundings as soon as possible.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Frankie Keena said he wouldn’t like to see HIQA coming back again at a later stage saying that certain things needed to be done. He was told, in response, that all the HIQA issues have been addressed.

His party colleague Councillor Aengus O’Rourke said that face-to-face updates on issues like this were crucial, particularly for families who were anxious to know what was happening.

He asked: “Could we look at the re-introduction of respite beds at St Vincent’s?” In reply, Mr Ruane said: “I’m very open to respite services.”

Independent Councillor Michael O’Brien said it was reassuring to hear that the centre is on course to re-open in late March, while the Mayor of Athlone Municipal District Councillor John Dolan said: “We very often hear the negatives about the HSE. There’s a lot of positives here today.”

However, Sinn Féin Councillor Paul Hogan said some people felt that the level of correspondence “wasn’t there since last July” when it emerged that the centre was closing temporarily.

“That level of consultation hasn’t been there and I know that’s a fair comment to make,” he said.

He said that health services have been “stripped across the board. Really it’s of huge concern to us. People out on the street are saying it to us”.

He said he has a very close affinity with St Vincent’s, having been one of the last babies born there.

Mr Ruane said that if staff were unclear about anything they should ask their line managers, while HSE management was happy to talk to any families on a one-to-one basis if they have any queries.

He said the decision to close the facility last July was “based on information available to us” and the HSE was not prepared to take a risk.