Day Care Centre to close due to lack of HSE Funding

Due to the withdrawal of contracted funding from the Health Service Executive as a result of financial issues within the HSE, Nethercross Daycare Centre for older persons in Finglas, Dublin may be forced to close. With a deficit of over €125,000, the centre has been running at a loss since 2006 and the service is now unsustainable. Managed by Respond! Housing Association, the centre is accessed by older persons on the North side of Dublin.

In addition to the day care centre, Respond! has received no rent from the HSE since May 30th 2006 for a section of the premises that contains a Community Paediatric Occupational Therapy Service. The housing charity was forced on April 22nd 2008 to issue the HSE with a notice to quit. This has been ignored by the HSE and the organisation has made no offer of rent.

According to Michael O’Connor, Respond! Regional Manager:
“This situation has been incredibly frustrating for Respond!. We are a charitable organisation and have been left in the position of trying to meet the shortfall of costs caused by the HSE failing to meet their obligations. We have been in negotiations with six different HSE representatives regarding this matter without a satisfactory outcome.”

Nethercross Daycare Centre was built by Respond! Housing Association and opened in August 2006 by the then Minister for Housing, Noel Ahern T.D. The centre was built in order to address the requirements of older persons in the area based on a study of heath care needs commissioned by the HSE. The study of the Finglas area discovered that over a third of the local population were found to be 50 years and over, while half of this group were aged over 65.

“The HSE realise there is a chronic need for services in this area yet they don’t appear willing to fund the services required to meet this need,” added Mr O’Connor. “The HSE has failed to meet the previously agreed running costs of the centre, including the basic salary needs of the staff. As a housing charity, Respond! cannot continue to cover the centre deficit and has no alternative but to consider the closure of the centre.”