HSE plans to make short term use of a new Community Nursing Unit in Nenagh to help address overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick is facing opposition from a number of sources. The Unit was completed last year and was to provide 50 beds for long term stay residents, initially those currently in St Conlon’s nursing home in Nenagh, thought to be approximately 20 people.
The HSE is to tender to find a private provider to operate the facility for a period of about one year as a step down sub-acute facility.
Staff working at St. Conlon’s Community Nursing Unit (CNU) represented by SIPTU trade union are said to be opposed to the repurposing of the new CNU.
SIPTU Organiser, Mark Quinn, says union members at St. Conlon’s CNU were preparing to move residents to the new state-of-the-art facility. The staff first heard of the change in plan from media reports. It is understood that concern has been further heightened by suggestions that a private provider will manage the step-down facility. SIPTU says the idea that a private company will provide services out of a state-of-the-art building, which has been built using significant state funding, is extraordinary. SIPTU has raised its objections to this plan formally with the HSE and is awaiting a response. The union says it will use all options available to secure the best possible outcome for the staff of St. Conlon’s CNU, the residents that depend on its services and the broader community of Nenagh.
In addition, Nenagh needs it’s A&E campaign group and local TD Alan Kelly are opposed to the plan saying the facility is needed for the purpose it was built and also have concerns about how effective the proposal will be in tackling overcrowding in UHL.
