The Joint Committee on Health has written to the HSE, concerned about alternative placements being offered to residents of a Midleton residential-centre for people with significant mental health challenges.
They have again asked the HSE to reverse its decision to close the centre.
The HSE announced in June 2021, that the long-stay, residential, mental-health Owenacurra Centre, on the grounds of Midelton Community hospital was slated for closure.
However, since then families of residents have been campaigning for a new centre to be built on the hospital grounds instead.
According to today's Echo, the Joint Committee on Health has "serious concern" that the HSE has proceeded with the closure - and that residents are being offered placements in ward-based settings such as in St Finbarr’s Hospital and St Stephen’s Hospital.
The Committee says this represents a significant downgrade "in key respects" for Owenacurra residents - and that "highly vulnerable people" are being moved "from one situation of prolonged uncertainty to another".
