Call to open Deer Lodge immediately

CLLR ASKS HSE TO MOVE PATIENTS INTO NEW PSYCH UNIT IMMEDIATELY

RESIDENTS who will be moving into the county’s new longterm psychiatric health care unit of Deer Lodge in Killarney should be moved in immediately rather than continue living any longer in a building deemed unfit for purpose.

That’s according to Killarney County Councillor Michael Gleeson who called on the Minister for Health Simon Harris and the HSE to transfer residents into the purpose-built Deer Lodge with ‘immediate effect’.

His proposal received the unanimous backing of colleagues at a recent meeting of Kerry County Council.

The centre, which is now completed on a site by the district hospital in Killarney, is expected to offer those in need of long-term psychiatric care, cutting edge facilities and therapy.

“Recent years have seen the development of a new and more modern approach to dealing with psychiatric illness. There has been a welcome emphasis on developing purpose built residences. Deer Lodge is such a building and it is designed to ensure that residents will at all times have proper and dignified care,” Cllr Gleeson said.

“At present the patients are in a building that is no longer regarded as fit for purpose particularly when a state of the art building lies idle and waiting.”

Hence, he said, his ‘urgent’ call ‘to open for immediate use the fairly recently built Deer Lodge 40 bed residential unit in Killarney.’

€1.15 million was allocated to the facility last month, with the first residents expected to move in by January and the facility to be at capacity no later than March.