Up to 40 elderly people in west Sligo are said to be left isolated due to day care services being unavailable for the last six weeks.
The service, which is usually housed in the Skreen Health Centre, provides members of the community with hot meals and other activities and has been described as a vital social outlet for those between 70-90 years of age.
The cancellation of the service is said to be down to a manager being off sick and the HSE is facing pressure to come up with a better system to ensure continuity of the service.
Local Cllr Michael Clarke says it shouldn’t be the case that the service can’t operate due to one member of staff being unavailable.
He also says it’s in the HSEs interest to get it reinstated as a matter of urgency:
In a statement, the HSE said the Social Day Centre operates from Skreen Health Centre on Tuesday and Thursday each week providing a service to 8 service users each day. Currently there are 18 services users registered to attend the Social Day Centre in Skreen.
Due to staff vacancies the HSE regrettably had to close the centre.
A recruitment campaign has been completed and additional staff have been recruited which will facilitate the reopening of the centre in the coming weeks.
