Plans by the HSE to close Aras Naomh Chaolain and a number of community mental health hostels in Castlerea have been slammed by a local GP as “treacherous” and tantamount to elder abuse. Dr Greg Kelly has launched a scathing attack on HSE plans to close a number of community mental health facilities in the town and transfer up to 100 patients to nursing homes. In the wake of concerns over the future of the Rosalie unit at Aras Niamh Chaolain, Dr Kelly has this week expressed “serious concern” over the closure of the entire mental health unit and other community hostels in the town. The Castlerea GP said the proposals were akin to elder abuse, as they targeted the most vulnerable and voiceless in the community.

“It’s a serious issue and I regard it as an infringement of these patients’ rights. We’re talking about the most vulnerable and voiceless people who are being pushed around for no medical reason. As a GP I feel I have to call it as it is,” Dr Kelly told the Herald. “I regard what is planned as a form of elder abuse. Many of these patients have Alzheimer’s and dementia and cannot speak for themselves. It is quite treacherous what they are doing,” he stressed. Dr Kelly said the closures would impact on elderly patients with particular care needs who would never be able to live independently. “These are patients who need 24 hour care and supervision. Putting these people into ordinary nursing homes will not meet their needs; these people need specialist care by appropriately trained staff,” he said. “The elderly should be treated properly. If this was happening with children it would be making national headlines. This is an abuse of old people,” he added. The anticipated closures comes on foot of an expert review, which has recommended replacing around 300 beds across 59 community residential facilities in counties Galway and Roscommon with community mental health teams. Dr Kelly said lessons should have been learnt from past mistakes when some patients were transferred to unsuitable accommodation following the closure of the psychiatric hospital in Castlerea.

Aras Aras Naomh Chaolain in Castlerea, which a local GP claims is being earmarked for closure.