Concerns over threat to elderly daycare at St. Mary's

Staffing issues at St. Mary's Hospital, Mullingar's day service for the elderly have led to fears that the Health Service Executive is trying to close the service by stealth.The fear is shared by people attending the service, as well as by staff there, who are anxious to keep the day centre open. HSE is attempting to close the facility altogether as a cost saving measure.The HSE's official stance is, a spokesperson told the Westmeath Examiner this week, that "no decision" has been made to close elderly day care services at St. Mary's. Mullingar man John Bawle, a bus driver said the amount of people who would be affected by such a decision numbers around 250, with 45 people using the service per day. "The fear is that they will try to close the service, because they haven't got the staff, even though there are thousands of young nurses out there just willing to do the work," Mr. Bawle told the Westmeath Examiner this "Ninety percent of them are living on their own, and they're all in their eighties or nineties," he said.The service is used by an individual once or twice a week. A typical day for the service users starts at 10am with tea and toast, followed by health checks, Mass, dinner, bingo/games and other activities. "There's a great social aspect to it, and these people look forward to it every week." But Mr. Bawle and his fellow friends of St. Mary's Hospital fear that the vital service may end up being axed due to bureaucracy.But Dáil deputy Willie Penrose, aware of the issue, wrote over a week ago to the Local Health Manager, Mr. Joe Ruane to voice his concerns. "I hope that the HSE are not embarking upon this ill conceived notion of embarking of the same route again, for the sake of trying to affect minimal savings as there is no gain involved, as people who do not have an opportunity of visiting day care centres will have to resort to be cared for by a home help in their home settings," Deputy Penrose said in his letter