The HSE has strongly denied that there are serious staffing and management issues at St Vincent’s Care Centre in Athlone.
The organisation was responding to comments made last week by Mayor of Athlone, Aengus O’Rourke, that serious staffing and management concerns are putting the future of the facility at risk.
In a response issued late last week, a spokesperson for the HSE said: “The HSE can confirm that the current staffing levels at St Vincent’s is more than adequate to provide a quality safe care to the residents in the Care Centre in Athlone.
“The centre is fully compliant with the required levels under the HIQA standards. This was confirmed at the recent HIQA inspection on June 27, 2017.
“The director of nursing is working with National Recruitment Service of the HSE to recruit the necessary staff to replace all those who have retired with a view to reopening beds which are temporarily closed.
“In the interim, temporary staff are being successfully sourced from an external agency to support the Centre. A further CNM2 post which had been vacated due to a retirement is due to be filled in the coming weeks. It is not possible at this stage to give a definitive date for the reopening of all the beds.”
The spokesperson added that the director of nursing has had regular meetings with staff since the reopening of the centre, and has reported that they have been very positive, that overall the morale at the centre is “generally good”, and that management, staff and residents look forward to the reopening of St Vincent’s as soon as possible.
