HSE account holds €88,000 in unspent public donations to closed Carrick-on-Suir hospital

The HSE holds approximately €88,000 in donations to Carrick-on-Suir’s St Brigid’s District Hospital that were unspent when the hospital was closed in 2020.

But it has not outlined how donors or the local community can get this money back if they wish.

The handing back of unspent public donations made to St Brigid’s was raised by Independent TD Mattie McGrath at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Petitions hearing about the hospital’s closure on Thursday, February 9.

He asked HSE officials, who came before the hearing , when were those unspent donations going to be returned to the community.

South East Community Healthcare Chief Officer Kate Killeen-White responded that there was a process in place and the HSE will continue with that process.

Deputy McGrath replied that he would like to discuss the matter further with Ms Killeen-White as he wasn’t sure of how the mechanics of returning the money worked.

Following the Oireachtas Committee hearing, The Nationalist asked HSE South East Community Healthcare how much does the HSE hold in unspent St Brigid’s Hospital donations? What is the process for returning donations to donors or the community and who do donors contact in the HSE about this matter?

In response, the HSE said it holds a fund of approximately €88,000, representing the balance of donations that were unspent for St Brigid’s Hospital at the time it was “repurposed”.

“The HSE continues to keep the matter under review and retain the funds in safe-keeping,” the statement concluded.

The Save St Brigid’s Hospital Action Group has criticised the HSE for not providing clarity on the €88,000 in donations that remains in a bank account.

“The HSE stated it’s an ‘ongoing process’ in relation to the funds but provided no clarity on what that process actually was,” said the action group in a statement issued after the Oireachtas Committee hearing.

The Action Group said the HSE attempted to “defend the indefensible” at the hearing.

It said the HSE cited infection control worries as a major reason for the closure and that Covid-19 accelerated these worries but didn’t provide any figures or records of instances of previous infection outbreaks at the hospital.

The Action Group claimed the HSE “skirted around” the hospital’s redesignation as a Covid step down facility shortly before its closure.

“If there were such concerns about infection control it simply does not make sense that they would designate it for Covid patients at the height of the pandemic in 2020.”

The Action Group’s statement also highlighted how the HSE never obtained any costings to evaluate how much it would cost to refurbish or downsize the occupancy of St Brigid’s Hospital.

“They (the HSE officials) stated it was obvious it would cost a large amount of money, but never commissioned any quotes to establish how much to make an evidence-based decision.

“They cited major structural issues within the building and its age but did not commission any engineers report or estates report.”

In relation to the HSE citing the hospital’s location on a floodplain as a reason for not pursuing the extension option, the Action Group maintained the hospital’s grounds have not flooded in their 200-year history.

And it pointed to the building of a Primary Care Centre on the hospital’s grounds a few years ago.

The Action Group argued the HSE’s reasons for closing the hospital were based on the opinion of HSE management rather than factual evidence based on reports on the issues they identified. The group added that the term “not fit for purpose” was never used in any HIQA report in relation to St Brigid’s.

While the 2018 HIQA report on the hospital outlined challenges, the group contended that these could have been easily overcome.