A city councillor is calling on the HSE to reconsider its decision to move a drug treatment clinic from Shantalla Health Centre to Mervue Health Centre and to find a “more suitable location”.
Independent councillor for Galway City East, Declan McDonnell, said that he was alarmed and very concerned that the drug treatment facility was moved from Shantalla Health Centre in January by the HSE to Mervue Health Centre “without consultation or communication with residents in the area”. Cllr McDonnell is currently waiting for a response from the HSE in relation to a request he made for a meeting to discuss the matter further.
Cllr McDonnell said: “This was brought to my attention by a number of residents who were approached for money by clients of the drug treatment clinic. I believe that this is a totally unsuitable location for a drug treatment facility, as it is a built up residential area and in close proximity to a crèche, two primary schools, and across the road from the Walter Macken Flats.
“Last year most of the services at the Mervue Health Centre were moved to the new primary care facility in Doughiska, which means that the elderly people living in Mervue must now travel out to Doughiska for appointments. I believe that the Doughiska Primary Care Centre is a far more suitable location for the drug treatment facility, as it is not in close proximity to any houses.
“What beggars belief is that there is an elderly population in Mervue that was using the health centre and they now have to travel elsewhere for care and support, but the drug treatment clinic could just as easily have been moved to Doughiska and left services for the elderly where they were - in Mervue.”
