Limerick addiction-treatment centre to close its doors

ALJEFF Treatment Centre Ltd, the charity which delivers services to those with addiction problems and their families in Limerick City, is being wound up voluntarily by the board of the company. Contingency services are being organised with immediate effect to cater for all Aljeff clients.

ALJEFF Treatment Centre Ltd, the charity which delivers services to those with addiction problems and their families in Limerick City, is being wound up voluntarily by the board of the company. Contingency services are being organised with immediate effect to cater for all Aljeff clients.
In a joint statement issued this week, the HSE and the Mid-West Regional Drugs Task Force (MWRDTF), together with the board of Aljeff have committed to working closely together to deliver the contingency services.
Fourteen staff at the Aljeff Treatment Centre were made redundant as of December 31 and will receive statutory redundancy payments under their contracts of employment.
Services for the duration of the contingency plan will be delivered by former Aljeff staff, who are now working with the MWRDTF and HSE to ensure clients are appropriately supported from Aljeff’s existing premises at The Gables, Fairgreen, Ballysimon Road, with a view to the MWRDTF providing a replacement service in Limerick in the coming months.
The decision to close Aljeff was taken by the board of Aljeff Treatment Centre Ltd, due to financial difficulties experienced by the company. The board paid tribute to the service and professionalism of the staff in the provision of services.
MWRDTF chairman Mick Lacey stressed the decision to close is not as a result of Government cutbacks or a reduction in funding from the regional task force.
The Aljeff Treatment Centre was founded in 2000 in response to a growing need for services to combat the growth in serious addiction and substance-related suicide in and around Limerick City.
The board of Aljeff said it regrets the closure but remains committed to working with the HSE and the MWRDTF to promote positive mental health in the community in an effort to reduce high numbers of attempted suicides/self-harm and death by suicide.
The Mid-West HSE has confirmed it provided €110,000 to Aljeff in 2010 for the provision of outreach counselling in relation to drug misuse problems among homeless people and prisoners.
Funding for the project from the HSE Mid-West in 2011 was €107,000. This represents a minor reduction of 2.6% and was consistent with reductions in grants to all voluntary organisations and much less than the 2011 reductions in many parts of the health services.
This HSE funding for Aljeff was in addition to the €2 million spent directly on addiction services provided by the HSE’s own staff.
Additionally in 2011, Aljeff received funding of €145,900 in relation to their family support programme and employment of three staff to work with the HSE Mid-West’s Primary Care Drug Assessment Unit (PCDAU) in Limerick.
These three staff employed by Aljeff and the services they provide will be targeted by the HSE for continuation under different auspices now that Aljeff is no longer able to operate. The HSE is committed to ensuring this funding remains within the targeted drug addiction area.
The Drugs Task Force money for Aljeff paid through the HSE in 2010 was €479,957.
In 2011, the Drugs Task Force paid Aljeff  €379,334. This change in funding was decided upon by the task force and specifically followed a review redirecting the funds from two programmes in order to create a new, more relevant and targeted service.

Plans withdrawn for Cratloe-based Aljeff centre

PLANS for the development of a 16-bedroom addiction-treatment clinic in a rural area between Cratloe and Bunratty East have been abandoned following the withdrawal of funding worth €185,000, it emerged this week.
Last September, The Clare Champion highlighted residents’ fears about being outnumbered in their own community if a partially HSE-funded Aljeff Clinic at Moyhill, Cratloe, became fully occupied.
Concern about the suitability of providing an addiction-treatment facility a short distance from the HSE Green Meadows High Support Unit for teenagers with behavioural difficulties was expressed at a meeting of Cratloe Community Council.
Locals haven’t raised any issue with the Green Meadows facility with the HSE previously, which has been in existence for over 12 years but claimed at the council meeting, the provision of an drug/alcohol recovery centre nearby was a step too far.
There is a genuine concern for the well-being of teenagers, who are cared for in the Green Meadows Unit, who run the risk of coming under the influence of clients from the nearby Aljeff facility.
However, Mid-West Regional Drugs Task Force chairman, Mick Lacey said he understood this facility was now closed after Aljeff went into voluntary liquidation.
The MWRDTF provided Aljeff with €185,000 in 2011 to deliver a transitional housing programme from Limerick City. Last year, Aljeff made a decision to move the project to Cratloe.
The governance of funding for this project was reviewed in late 2011 by the task force and the criteria for the funding were not satisfactorily met.
At this point, the task force suspended its annual funding of €185,000 for the particular programme. The HSE, as a partner in the task force, agreed with this decision.
Following on from the suspension of funding for the programme, the task force initiated a wider review, the report of which is not yet finalised.
Mr Lacey stressed the withdrawal of this funding was not as a result of any Government cutbacks and was made solely on the basis that the project didn’t meet standard criteria.