Deep concern over cuts to Pieta House
SERIOUS concerns are emerging in Kerry over the impact of cuts to Pieta House, which the charity says it has to impose as a result of the impact of the pandemic.
The changes are severe, ranging from cuts of up to 30 per cent on staff wages in place since April to the replacement of all centre managers – largely in place on a county basis –with six regional managers nationally by July.
Therapy hours –which are all now conducted online – have also been hit hard. Pieta House in Kerry – based at 28 Moyderwell, Tralee – has lost three of its four sessional therapists within the past month, with the fourth position to finish at the end of June.
The sessional therapists were self-employed, coming in to the charity to deliver vital care to the level of 32 hours per week in Kerry alone – equivalent to 1,664 hours in the year.
Just four therapists directly employed by Pieta House will now remain to deal with what is anticipated will be an avalanche of mental-health problems once the COVID restrictions are lifted.
Meanwhile, the charity’s 56 clinical support staff nationally have been notified of the end of the positions and invited to apply for just nine clinical support positions into the future.
Clinical support staff play a vital role in the life-saving work of the organisation, taking initial calls over the phone, comforting people in crisis and meeting them on their arrival to the charity before introducing them to therapists.
The Kerryman understands the charity is to seek replacing some of this work on a voluntary basis. A voluntary redundancy scheme was also introduced last month, and the charity has warned that it may have to implement redundancies on a compulsory basis into the future.
Pieta House has said the cuts are as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is leaving the charity facing a budget shortfall of around €6.5million this year.
It says the measures are needed to ‘protect’ the delivery of services to clients.
The Kerryman contacted Pieta House in Kerry and in Dublin, but was unable to reach anyone in a position to comment on the cuts.
However, in a recent statement to media the charity said:
“These measures are needed to ensure that the delivery of services to clients can be protected now, and over the long term, when our vital services will continue to be needed.”
The replacement of this year’s Darkness Into Light fundraiser was cited as a big loss, although a special Darkness Into Light Sunrise Appeal was held in its stead.
Charity CEO Elaine Austin said: “We understand this is a very difficult time for our dedicated staff, and we deeply regret having to take this step.
“With the loss of our flagship annual fundraising event, Darkness into Light, we have been left with a very significant funding gap, and in order to keep our doors open to clients, we must make these very difficult decisions.”
But the charity is now facing questions as to how much was raised by the Sunrise Appeal – mounted at a much reduced cost.
Among those with deep concerns over the cuts is former Kerry centre manager Cora O’Brien.
The Listowel woman was among those who established the then Joan Freeman-led charity in Kerry, having herself organised the massive ‘Nunday’ spectacle in 2012.
That raised €30,000 for the setting up of Pieta House in Kerry, which opened in Castleisland initially in 2012.
Ms O’Brien told The Kerryman this week that she was deeply ‘sad and disappointed’ to learn of the changes to a service funded in no small part by the people of Kerry. She said she dearly hoped the cuts would not impact what she described as the organisation’s fantastic, life-saving work.
“I’m sad and disappointed to hear what is going at the moment in Pieta House. I know that the work Pieta has provided has just been outstanding, and my hope is that that work would continue, because when they are saying they are going to cut clinical support staff like that I would worry about it.
“When I worked there, yes, there was a waiting list with a full team in place. What is the waiting list going to look like when Pieta opens up again?”
She called on CEO Elaine Austin and the Pieta House board of management to inform the people of Kerry as to their plans for the future of the life-saving service in the county: “They have a duty to inform the people of Kerry and Ireland as to their plan going forward for Pieta House because it is the communities which raise the money to keep Pieta House there.
“They have a right and a need to know what the plan is for the future.”
Ms O’Brien left the service of her own volition in October of last year as she was not pleased with a change of emphasis within the charity after new governance structures were put in place. It became more ‘ business-minded’, Ms O’Brien felt.
“I felt that the focus had shifted in such a way as to become something I no longer wanted to be a part of. I felt Pieta House shifted from a framework that had been entirely of a clinical nature to a more business-minded framework.
“There needs to be a business framework there for sure, but it needs to be client-led as it always had been.”
It was not an easy decision to step down from the charity for a person who had driven so much of it in the county since its inception.
“I left Pieta House with a very heavy heart. I left it with a fantastic team behind me who always did amazing work. I could not speak highly enough of the care they gave, and continue to give, to clients.”
In her time with Pieta, she said she had a very strong sense, as did all her colleagues, of the difference they were making to the mental health of the county – and the fact they were saving countless lives in a very real way.
The feedback from clients and other agencies working in the field was unequivocal on that front too.
“We had a very strong sense we were making a big difference to the mental health of the county and that it was so valued.
“The feedback we got from our clients, from the likes of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), from doctors and families was extremely positive always, saying the help they got from Pieta House helped to save their lives.
“That’s the bottom line, the fact that the work is saving people’s lives.
“So I would hope that the service that was there is the service that’s going to continue, because anything less than that to me would be shocking,” Ms O’Brien added.