Frustration as Tús Nua closes down

THE HSE has denied claims that clients at the Tús Nua day care centre in Ballymun will be left without adequate services when it closes this week.

The centre at Ballymun Shopping Centre is due to close on November 28 and most clients have been referred to alternative mental health day services in other Northside areas.
When news of the closure was first revealed this summer, clients and supporters held a protest calling for a new facility to be opened in the area.

The HSE is offering an interim programme of activities in Ballymun’s Civic Centre on Main Street for clients not referred to an alternative day service from December 1, but some of them aren’t happy with the arrangement.

“We are all very upset over this,

? one told Northside People.

“We feel we are being discarded like a pair of old slippers.

“They are trying to cut back on funding but by doing this they are only making people even more vulnerable than they are already.

?

A spokesperson for the HSE said the interim arrangement would provide a programme of activities tailored to the specific needs of the service users.
However, the clients believe that the facilities and services offered in the Civic Centre won’t meet their needs.

“The HSE has begrudgingly given the patients that have been kept on the use of one room three days a week for a couple of hours in the Civic Centre,

? the client said.

“There is nowhere to make tea, we can’t do any cooking, art or pottery and the Anxiety and Stress Management group has finished.

?

The HSE said all clients were being catered for under the new arrangements.

“All services users are being informed of this plan directly by their mental health team,

? a spokesperson said.

The protest earlier this summer took place outside the Civic Centre.