28 June 2021
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
The Sinn Fein TD for East Cork has said that he is shocked and saddened with the news that the Owenacurra Mental Health Centre in Midleton is to close this year.
Pat Buckley TD
Deputy Buckley said, It’s a very sad day for mental health services in East Cork and for those patients and their families and also the staff that are working there, some for well over 25 years.
This comes on the back of a number of inspections carried out in recent years, one in particular by the Mental Health Commission 2018 Approved Inspection Report.
One of many findings in the reports found that the Centre had not been maintained in good structural condition and that the centre was not fit for purpose.
I have spoken with the Minister for Mental Health and Older People on this very issue today (Monday 28 June 2021), and unfortunately as many of 25 staff are to be redeployed and those 19 patients also going to be redeployed in the next 4 months.
I’m extremely worried right now as to what happens with that very site, are services going to be replaced? Will Midleton and East Cork loose this step down centre for good?
How are families going to cope with this news, how are patients and staff going to deal with this news? There are a lot of questions that need answering on this and I hope to talk to the Minister again this week on the matter.
For years our mental health services have been crumbling with very little funding going into the service and now with everything that has gone on since Covid , those who need our mental health services have been failed once more. There are many , many questions to be answered on this and how it has come to this , people need answers and I for one will work with all involved to make sure that this vital service is not lost in East Cork.
