Biggest town has 25 spaces for elderly, with 108 in Clonakilty.

A CRITICAL shortage of beds for the elderly at Bandon Community Hospital has been described as ‘inadequate, inequitable, and out of step with the needs of the fastest growing town in West Cork’.

Cllr Ann Bambury (SD) raised the issue at a HSE South West Regional Forum meeting last Thursday.

Cllr Bambury compared Bandon’s 25-bed capacity at the local community hospital with its near neighbour Clonakilty, which has 108 beds.

According to Cllr Bambury, CareChoice in Clonakilty has 50 long stay beds, while Bushmount, also in Clonakilty, has 79 long stay beds.

Both of which she said are full, and both of which have extensive waiting lists.

She claimed that the Haven Bay in Kinsale has a capacity of 121 long stay beds, six of which are respite, while Riverstick Nursing home has 92 single and two double long stay beds, 33 of which are respite.

She said with a population of 8,196 as of Census 2022 Bandon community hospital also has to cater for outlying villages including Newcestown, Crossbarry, Innishannon and Kilbrittain.

HSE regional executive officer Dr Andy Phillips said: ‘There are too few places for older people in Cork and Kerry, both in public and private provision. That lack is only going to increase over time, so we welcome advocacy and we will advocate too.’

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Bambury said: ‘There is an obvious need for additional beds yet the HSE’s response offered no plan, no timeline, and no recognition of the scale of unmet need, thereby sidestepping the question.

‘Older people in Bandon are already feeling the impact. Families are living in fear of where their loved ones will end up if local beds are full. We cannot call that care.’

She said she was speaking from personal experience because her grandfather, Richie Collins, lived in CareChoice Clonakilty for the last three years of his life until he died in 2019 at the age of 94.

‘As a family, we were lucky there were many of us, and were able to bring my grandmother to visit him nearly every day, but it took an immense toll on our entire family,’ she said.

She recalled a visit by the minister for health and how her grandfather, ‘a proud man who had worked hard all his life’, told the minister it was wrong that someone who had given so much could not spend his final years in his own community, close to family and friends.

‘Clonakilty, for all its excellence and compassionate staff, was not home for him. We need a home away from home, within our own community. That is not a luxury. It should be a basic right.’