Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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76. To ask the Minister for Health when St. Brendan's day care centre in Loughrea, County Galway will be reopened for use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51142/22]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I want to raise a very important issue that has arisen in the past year in Loughrea, County Galway, where we have a purpose-built community nursing home with a day case centre as part of it. When Covid came, the day care centre, Seven Springs, was closed. To date, there has been much confusion as to what is happening there. The service in the centre has been resumed one day a week and on the other three days it has been transferred to a local hotel.

There is great concern. I was at a meeting last Monday night that was attended by more than 75 people, mainly those who use the service. They will protest in Loughrea tomorrow morning on the basis that the service being provided is not fit for purpose and because they are being thrown out into the street.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. Day care centres are fundamental to the health and well-being of our older population. They play a key role in enabling older people to live independently in their own communities. Their reopening has been a priority for my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people, Deputy Butler, since their necessary closure in 2020. This process began in the second half of 2021 and continues into 2022. By the end of October, it is expected that 304 centres will have reopened, representing about 91% of day care services for older people.

The Deputy asked about his local centre. In budget 2023, the Minister of State secured an additional €4.1 million to ensure the continuation of older persons and dementia day services to a high standard. The St. Brendan's day care service in Loughrea is open one day per week for a maximum of 14 attendees, as per HIQA stipulations. In addition to this, the HSE has an interim arrangement, as the Deputy outlined, to operate a service for three days a week in the Lough Rea Hotel. This arrangement commenced in September and can cater for a maximum of 24 attendees. The service operates weekly on Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Unfortunately, the community nursing unit is not an option as a long-term location for the St. Brendan's day care service. The HSE is looking to identify an alternative site on the St. Brendan's campus.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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HIQA has no remit over day care centres. Why has somebody decided that the existing Seven Springs site is suitable one day a week? If it is suitable on Wednesday, why is it not suitable on Tuesday, Monday or Thursday? What is the logic in this? As I understand it, there are capacity issues in the nursing home and the people who are using the day service have been moved out to facilitate that. Administrative staff are now using the day centre and that is not good enough. The HSE is talking about providing an alternative site within the St. Brendan's campus. How long will that take? When will a proper service be up and running?

There is also an attitude issue. Some of the HSE replies to a local councillor, Geraldine Donohue, who raised the issue, suggested that what patients had been getting was a very enhanced service, as if to say they should now get less and be thankful to be getting it.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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As I said, the HSE is looking to identify an alternative site on the St. Brendan's campus but, unfortunately, the community nursing unit is not an option as an long-term location for the St. Brendan's day care service. In the interim, the HSE is operating a service three days a week.

The Deputy raised some interesting questions regarding the capacity issue and the fact the site is being used by administrative staff. He asked how long the process will take, and while I do not know, I will find out. This issue needs to be resolved and perhaps we will try to get all the stakeholders around the table to resolve it because it seems what the Deputy is looking for is quite reasonable. If he wishes to send me an email, I will bring the matter to the Minister of State's attention.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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Something is missing here. If HIQA has a role in day care services, did it approve the current location? I have seen a citation from the grandson of one of the service users. On her first day at the new location, she rang him at 11 p.m., crying and asking to be brought home. There is something fundamentally wrong here. This day service was purpose-built as a day centre; it was not amalgamated with a nursing home. It has been open for only about ten years. It is a modern building and it had all the services that were needed. It was doing exactly what the Minister of State suggested day services should be doing, but what we have now is not right. The attitude and the communication in respect of all this is totally wrong.

Tomorrow at 11 a.m., old people will march in Loughrea. Something is fundamentally wrong when something like this is happening in this day and age. There is a great loss here that has to be rectified, and not by someone telling us what is going to happen in the future. It has to be resolved now. The Seven Springs day centre needs to open and if there are issues within the community nursing home, they need to be dealt with separately.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I understand the Loughrea centre is open one day a week for a maximum of 14 attendees and, according to my notes, this is due to a HIQA stipulation. There are 23 services in Galway, of which 22 are open, so the Deputy's local service is the only one that remains closed. The HSE has assured the Department that it is actively looking to identify an alternative site on the St. Brendan’s campus and I hope this can be resolved. I will convey the Deputy's views to the Minister of State.