Publish the Cottage plan - Nash
SENATOR Ged Nash has called on the HSE to publish the plan they have received for the continued operation of the Cottage Hospital beyond June 2018.
He pointed out that the HIQA registration for the hospital to operate as a transitional care unit will expire in June 2018.
‘Several hundred local people have already benefitted from the care they have received in the Cottage Hospital as they transition from the Lourdes to their own home, as has been the case in 67% of cases. Others who have been cared for in the Cottage have moved into longer term nursing home care.
‘ The recently published HIQA report highlighted the fact that a time bound and costed plan is required to be submitted to the HSE to allow the facility to be re-registered as a transitional care unit. This is part of the normal statutory re-registration process,’ he said.
‘I want the HSE to publish that plan immediately and to ensure that the required resources are provided by government to allow the unit to continue to operate beyond mid-2018 and to improve its services in the coming years.’
The Senator went on to say that he and Deputy Fergus O’Dowd had fought hard to retain the hospital as a healthcare facility in Drogheda and had been successful in this campaign. ‘ That campaign kicked off in early 2012 and that result was achieved against the odds,’ he said. ‘Now I want to see the HSE’s long term plans for the continuation of the service and how they plan to resource the hospital into the long term future. They should publish their plans now.’
Senator Nash said that as a member of the previous government in late 2015, he helped secure a state of the art expanded St Mary’s/Boyne View facility which is planned to be developed under the HSE’s Capital Plan (2016-2021) and said these plans are advancing.
‘HIQA in a recent report has identified issues at the Cottage that urgently need to be resolved around the appropriateness of some admissions, staffing levels, ongoing training and the need to add to the nursing management roles.