Vol. 439 No. 4
45 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Health the plans, if any, he has to accommodate and employ the remaining patients and staff at St. Patrick's Psychiatric Hospital, Castlerea, County Roscommon in view of the fact that this hospital is on offer for sale for other uses; and if he will make a statement on the funding of the proposed psychiatric care centre adjacent to Árus Máthair Pól in Castlerea.
The Western Health Board is responsible for the provision of psychiatric services in County Roscommon including services at St. Patrick's Hospital, Castlerea.
I understand from inquiries to the Western Health Board that no decision has been made to put St. Patrick's Hospital, Castlerea on the market for sale and neither have any formal approaches been made to the board in relation to the purchase of the hospital or its deployment for other uses.
At present there are eighty patients being cared for in St. Patrick's, Castlerea who are mostly long-stay/elderly psychiatric patients. The Western Health Board does not have any immediate plans to relocate a psychiatry of old age service to a centre adjacent to the board's Care for the Aged Service at Árus Máthair Pól, Castlerea.
