Frustration with delay in dementia unit opening

Frustration is growing in Clarecastle over the delay in opening a new purpose-built €800,000 dementia unit, which has been lying idle since last summer due to a lack of official sanction for €150,000 annual revenue funding.

Clarecastle and District Daycare Centre chairperson Mary Morrissey has claimed that the centre has been left “in limbo” after the Mid-West Health Service Executive (HSE) unveiled its plans for a new state-of-the art dementia unit on the grounds of St Joseph’s, in association with the Alzheimer’s Association, in The Clare Champion last week.
A delegation from the daycare centre, including Ms Morrissey, Ger Lynch, John Costelloe and Catherine Toomey, presented a case for the opening of the new dementia unit during a meeting with Minister of State for Older People, Áine Brady, in Dublin on Thursday.
Ms Morrissey admitted she was “shocked” to learn about the plans for the new facilities, which she claimed was decided without consultation with the centre.
Having looked after elderly people with dementia for the past 10 years at an estimated cost of €37 per client per day, Ms Morrissey claimed their highly qualified dementia care nurse and carers had built up a wealth of experience and expertise in this area, which they were anxious to deliver in the new unit.
The centre provides a wide range of services to over 50 elderly people daily from areas as far away as Sixmilebridge, including 21 who have dementia.
If the necessary funding was provided by the HSE, she explained, the new unit could accommodate 25 patients, which would in turn free up beds for non-dementia patients and facilitate some of the 12 dementia patients who are on a waiting list for care since last January.
She claimed the daycare centre was previously assured by HSE officials that money would be forthcoming if it entered into a partnership with the local Alzheimer’s Association. This would involve the new building being leased to the Alzheimer’s Association, which was opposed by the centre’s board of management.
She said that €400,000 was raised through voluntary donations, while the HSE supported a loan for the remaining €400,000.
“It is frustrating to see a new dementia unit lying idle where there are elderly patients out there who desperately need this service.
“We have been trying to get this situation resolved for the past six years. It is Government policy to provide day care in the community and we are simply following this policy.
“The daycare centre has had a very good record in Clarecastle and never had a complaint in 11 years. We have tried to normalise mental health care to remove the stigma and developed a special unit to provide care in a safe environment for patients and at the same time providing them dignity,” she said.
However, the Mid-West HSE revealed that last year the centre received €466,004, which represented half of its total allocation to all groups in the county.
A HSE spokesman noted the centre continued to ask the HSE for a further €150,000 to €250,000 revenue funding for a new specialised dementia service when there are already two such service providers in the greater Ennis area, one provided directly by the HSE and the other through funding provided to the Alzheimer’s Society.
This is despite the fact that over the last number of years, the HSE has consistently advised the Clarecastle board that it is not in a position to provide revenue funding for their proposed standalone dementia unit. 
He explained the Clare Local Health Office must take account of equity, access to services across the entire area, opportunities for greater integration and synergy between service components, value for money, best practice developments and other issues that must go beyond the perspective on any single voluntary group.
“The responsibility of the HSE is to develop services across the entire county and not just concentrate resources in one geographical area. 
“Clarecastle Daycare Centre is now proposing that we allocate between 66%-77% of our entire budget to them, which would obviously mean very significant reductions in the budgets of all the other voluntary day care providers around the county and in the provision of home help services. 
“The HSE do not consider such a proposal to be in line with our service priorities or to be in the best interest of the service needs of the older people living in the north, west, east or south of the county,” he said.