Order threatens withdrawal of services

THE NUN in charge of the religious order which runs Wisdom Services, a facility for more than 200 people with intellectual disabilities in Sligo, last night thanked local people for an “extraordinary” groundswell of support but warned that no progress had been made in talks with the HSE over funding cutbacks.

The Daughters of Wisdom have told families they will withdraw from the service they established at Cregg House, Sligo in 1955, because a €1.3 million funding shortfall means they can no longer stand over the safety of service users and staff.

Service users, their families, staff and members of the Order took part in a silent “Awareness Walk” through Sligo last night to highlight the threat to services.

With Kathleen Lynch, Minister of State with responsibility for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People, due to meet local Oireachtas members tomorrow to discuss the issue, the Provincial of the Order Sr Jean Quinn said “one voice” would be missing from these talks.

Sr Quinn said the issues had been “muddied” since the Order highlighted its concerns last week. “Kathleen Lynch is a compassionate woman and I would appeal to her to listen to what we have to say,” said the Provincial.

Management at Cregg House said safety would continue to be an issue, whether it was the HSE or the Daughters of Wisdom who run the service.

“Some of our service users are not able to feed themselves, they need staff to help them shower and dress – 90 per cent of the €1.3 million will be taken from the wages bill so there are obvious health and safety issues if we have to further cut staff,” said one source.

Another staff member said the proposed cutbacks were causing distress for the service users, many of whom have lived at Cregg House all their lives.

In a letter to families last week, Sr Quinn said cutbacks to date had led to the shutdown of the psychological service. Some residential accommodation was not fit for purpose even after the nuns had left their 21-bedroom convent to provide more space for service users.

The HSE has expressed disappointment that a service agreement has not been agreed for 2012, saying that the reduction in budget for 2012 is consistent with other disability service providers in the region. “While the HSE appreciates the difficulties for Wisdom Services, we unfortunately do not have additional funding to address the deficit in Wisdom Services, given the current financial climate.”