Shock plans to rezone 27-acre site at Crooksling nursing home
Maurice Garvey
THE HSE are in the process of making a submission to the South Dublin County Development Plan to rezone the 27-acre lands at Crooksling.
The shock revelation at a regional health forum meeting in Brittas on Tuesday night, has changed the dynamic of the HSE decision to wind down St Brigid’s nursing home, according to members of the Crooksling Action Group.
As reported in The Echo, the HSE is winding down St Brigid’s nursing home despite plans to move the service to a new building in Tallaght not kicking in until 2020.
The 56 beds in St Brigid’s are scheduled to fill over half of the 100 available beds at a new community nursing home in Tymon North.
Independent Councillor Deirdre O’Donovan, a member of the action group and health forum, has a 95-year-old grandmother in Crooksling.
She fears the land will be rezoned to be sold to a private nursing care company.
“The private care centres cherry-pick and will not take high-dependency people like my granny, who require a lot of care,” said Cllr O’Donovan.
Cllr O’Donovan, a candidate in the general election, says representatives were “lied to” by HIQA at the last health forum in January in relation to the non-movement of existing Crooksling residents.
“In a packed room of representatives, they said they would not close and move patients – allowing residents to live out their days at Crooksling,” said Cllr O’Donovan.
She continued: “A number of patients were moved to Inchicore in 2011, a lot of them died in a short space of time. International best practice shows the stress and trauma for moving high-dependency patients can be fatal.”
In response to Cllr O’Donovan’s motion asking the HSE to outline their decision to close Crooksling, and what plans are for the site, David Walsh, a HSE chief officer said the centre was “not fit for purpose.”
He said the €665,000 spent on expenditure of essential works at St Brigid’s since 2012 reflects a “level of unsuitability” for long-term care.
With regard to the submission to the county development plan, Mr Walsh said it is the “HSE’s position that appropriate zoning for these lands should allow for maximum flexibility and facilitate their best and appropriate use in the future.”
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