BREAKING: Roscrea's Dean Maxwell long-term care beds will stay

The Leader of the Labour Party has confirmed that long-term care will continue to be provided in Roscrea's Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Home next year, the Midland Tribune can reveal.

Large scale public protests to draw attention to the fast approaching deadline facing Roscrea's Dean Maxwell Nursing Home were threatened this week by a group of local activists campaigning to save the facility. The facility, cherished by generations of Roscrea people, faced the cessation of long-term care on the first day of next year due to new HIQA building regulations coming into force in 2022. 

However, today (Wed Dec 15) Leader of the Labour Party and Tipperary Deputy, Alan Kelly, said that this morning in the Dáil, the Minister for Public Expenditure confirmed to him on behalf of the Government that long stay beds will stay in the Dean Maxwell post and new residents will continue to be admitted.

Deputy Kelly told the Tribune that Minister Michael McGrath has received confirmation that HIQA will not be closing the nursing home for new residents on January 1 2022 and it will stay operating under HIQA monitoring.

"He also confirmed to me that he would support funding a new Dean Maxwell into the future when an agreed plan was out in place. I assured him that such a plan was there and has been put forward and that all stakeholders and the people of Roscrea are united in ensuring there is a new fully resourced Dean Maxwell put in place", Deputy Kelly said.

Speaking in the Dáil this morning, Deputy Michael Lowry said Ministers answers so far on the Dean Maxwell Home were not new and said the HSE had sold out the home, while Senator Garret Ahearn raised the issue in the Seanad and implored Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly to make a clear statement on the issue.  "The community have been left with silence from the Department of Health", Senator Ahearn said.

Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD, Deputy Jackie Cahill also welcomed the news: “I am delighted to confirm that the Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Home will continue operating as normal for 2022.

“There has been much concern raised again recently in relation to the ability of Dean Maxwell to accept residents and patients for 2022, and whether it would remain HIQA compliant during this time. As the end of the year quickly approached, it was essential that we received confirmation that all would be in order for the New Year and 2022 in relation to the nursing home’s operations", Deputy Cahill said.

“I am pleased to confirm, following a conversation with the Minister for Older People, Mary Butler, that the HSE has granted permission for Dean Maxwell to continue accepting residents and patients for 2022.

“I am sure that this very good news will be welcomed by the local community in Roscrea today, and I am glad to see this commitment coming from both the HSE and Minister Mary Butler, following numerous representation I have been making to them over a sustained period of time”, Cahill concluded.

Known to be the most emotive issue on the minds of the townspeople, the Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Home faced an uncertain future as the January 1 deadline for the cessation of long-term care closes in. Earlier this month the Roscrea Community Development Council (RCDC) contacted the five Dáil deputies representing the area, imploring them to establish some facts about the facility's uncertain future and seek an extension of the January deadline.

Due to the lack of response from several of the Roscrea area's elected Dáil representatives, RCDC warned on Monday that they feel they have exhausted all avenues and no other route bar public protest is open to them.