Decision regarding St Conlon’s Home ‘will not be overturned’ according to Health Minister

“This is a decision that’s been made – it’s not
up for review”.

Those were the words of Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly when pressed by Deputy Michael Lowry over the situation with St Conlon’s Nursing Home in Nenagh.

Deputy Lowry asked the Minister if he and his officials had reviewed their decision not to immediately transfer patients from St Conlon’s to the new Nenagh Community Nursing.

Expanding on his position to the questioning, Minister Donnelly added: “I can tell you categorically that the decision is not going to be overturned.

“This is a Patient Safety Issue. We have to do the right thing where the safety of patient risk is the highest for the people of Tipperary and the people of Nenagh.”

The Minister stated for any of those people who end up in the emergency unit in UHL we wants to make sure that we minimise the number of people on trolleys and reduce the amount of time they might be on a trolley.

Deputy Lowry emphasized that there has been a lot of controversy surrounding this decision saying that the situation has become very contentious and divisive locally, with patients and staff at St. Conlon’s extremely annoyed while the public in Nenagh is agitated. He stated that at a recent public meeting his compromise proposal of shared use by St Conlon’s and Step Down Beds for UHL was dismissed and people were given the impression that the decision could be overturned in it’s entirety.

The Minister responded by saying: “The decision was made and I am not going to just pass the book to the HSE.

“I was consulted on that decision and I am part of making that decision.

“It was made as we have elderly patients, frail patients, and deteriorating patients on trollies in UHL, and whereas in the rest of the country, the number of patients on trollies is going down, in UHL it has gone up by 40% this year.

“It’s a very serious situation and we need to do whatever we can to alleviate the pressure on those patients and those Healthcare workers.

“So, as a short-term measure, we’re using two Community Nursing Units.

“We’re using a 20-bed unit in Clare and a 50-bed unit in St Conlon’s the Minister stated.

“The local community is aware that there were 23 residents due to move into the new facility. I know they were looking forward to it and I know that this is frustrating for them and their families.

“I know it is disappointing but patient risk is the priority.”