Connacht Tribune
Loughrea Day Centre protestors take to the streets
Campaigners for the reopening of the Seven Springs Day Centre in Loughrea have rejected claims that the Health Service Executive had no choice but to take over the facility for long-term residents of St Brendan’s Nursing Home.
Over 150 locals took to the streets last Friday in wet and windy conditions to again protest what has happened to the Day Care Centre, which they insist was a condition of a bequest from the Topping family to fund the community nursing unit overlooking the lake.
Chief Officer of Community Healthcare West, Breda Crehan-Roche told Galway Bay FM on Monday that the HSE were instructed by Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) that St Brendan’s Community Nursing Unit (CNU) did not have enough communal space for its 100 residents.
She stated following negotiations with HIQA it was agreed they should take over the day centre room, which was being used for the last two years for dining and as a sitting room when the day centre was forced to close during the pandemic.
She stated that 71 residents were currently living in the nursing home, 60 of them are long-term, ten are short-stay and one is a palliative care resident.
“They instructed us to take the Seven Springs Day Care room into use because we didn’t have enough community space or it would have risked our registration,” she insisted.
A temporary solution has been put in place where the day centre is operating at the Loughrea Hotel and Spa for three days a week and for one day a week at Seven Springs. In the meantime, management have identified a building on the campus which will be renovated to create a new day centre. Money from the Topping Trust will be used to fund this.
Mattie Quinn, who chaired a community meeting last week, said there was no mention of this instruction from HIQA in the last two inspection reports of St Brendan’s.
“There was only an observation that the Seven Springs room was being used for dining. What we want to know is how can there not be enough communal space when St Brendan’s is not even full. There are dining rooms in each of the four blocks – why do they have to take over Seven Springs?”
He said was a “fierce outpouring of emotion and bewilderment” over the removal of the purpose-built day centre.
“My neighbour uses this. It was an absolutely fabulous social facility where they could visit the chiropodist, the hairdresser, avail of specialist showering. Musicians would come in to play. To think people could come in and pull the rug out from under them after the trauma of Covid. This was the little bit of comfort they had,” he exclaimed.
“How could anybody treat people like this? We all know that any time the HSE say they are going to refurb this or build that how long it takes – all the residents who use it will be dead.”
County Cathaoirleach Michael ‘Moegie’ Maher (FG) said talk in the Dáil by Deputy Sean Canny that people had been thrown out was “terrible”.
“Look, if I thought I was being led up the garden path I’d be out there joining the protests. But I trust what [Ms Crehan-Roche] is saying, HIQA is the governing body and they have directed her to take over the Seven Springs. We’re working together and hope to have a new one ready as soon as possible on the same site. I’m willing to give her a bit of time to get this sorted.”
A group calling itself Concerned Citizens handed in a letter to the management of St Brendan’s CNU after Friday’s march to appeal against the re-registering of the nursing unit with the day centre.
“This is an unjust and incorrect decision which has resulted in the users having to relocate to an unsuitable location at the Loughrea Hotel & Spa at an unknown cost to the taxpayer.”
Councillor Geraldine Donohue (Ind) said she continued to support those who believed the Seven Springs should be reopened on a full-time basis.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
