SAINT JOSEPH’S PETITION DELIVERED
MINISTER INSISTS CENTRE WILL STAY OPEN AS PETITION DELIVERED
MINISTER Simon Harris has assured representatives of Saint Joseph’s that the care centre will stay open.
‘ The doors will not close,’ said Minister Harris, who met a delegation from Saint Joseph’s last week. ‘I know this will be the case as, this week, the HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund have been engaging and meeting with Saint Joseph’s to discuss their funding weeks,’ he said.
‘I want to assure patients and their families that Saint Joseph’s is safe and that their concerns will be addressed.’
A spokeswoman for St Joseph’s said that while the minister’s remarks are reassuring, nothing has been finalised as yet and negotiations are still taking place. They have to go back this week with projections for the next couple of years.
Staff, volunteers and families marched to Leinster House last Wednesday and presented a petition signed by more than 10,000 members of the public, calling on the government to intervene and provide necessary funding to save the dedicated dementia care facility.
Retired opera singer Patricia Dolan, a resident of Saint Joseph’s, was among those at Leinster House and entertained everyone with a rendition of ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’.
Management had written the previous week to the 60 staff, over 100 volunteers and residents’ families to inform them its day care and respite services would have to cease entirely from January 2020 and that residential services would also have to be wound up in due course, unless the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) immediately provided the appropriate funding to bridge an annual deficit in excess of €1 million.
Saint Joseph’s Shankill is home to 60 people living with dementia and provides two respite beds and an additional 120 day care places per week but has been operating at a significant and unsustainable deficit for over seven years.
Management has been campaigning for fair funding in order to avoid closure and met with the HSE and NTPF last week, in the hope of agreeing a more equitable and sustainable financial solution for St
Joseph’s.
Chief Executive Emma Balmaine said there has been tremendous support shown by the general public towards Saint Joseph’s.
‘We are overwhelmed and delighted with how the general public have come out in such large numbers in support of Saint Joseph’s and we are extremely grateful to the family members of present and former residents, as well as staff and volunteers – all of whom are backing our efforts to retain this vitally important day, respite and residential service at Saint Joseph’s Shankill.
‘People realise that we have developed a very special dementia-specific service here in recent years, that can act as a template for bespoke dementia care nationally – so not only is this service worth saving, but it should be emulated.
‘We are also getting strong cross-party support and the government must now therefore recognise that specialist dementia care requires an appropriate funding mechanism – one that is fair and reflective of the fact that those being cared for have very specific social, psychological, emotional and physical needs.’
People living with dementia and their family members, as well as staff and volunteers, walked to the gates of Leinster House at noon last Wednesday to hand over the petition.
Deputy Stephen Donnelly had created the petition on change.org.
‘Less than a week after we launched the petition we had reached an incredible total of 10,279 names,’ he said.
‘That kind of support shows just how important Saint Joseph’s is and just how huge its loss would be.’