St John of God service users ‘alarmed’ by proposed transfer to HSE due to funding issues

SJOG said it intends to transder community services to the HSE by mid-August

FAMILIES AVAILING OF St John of God Community Services have expressed “alarm” over the proposed transfer of services to the HSE.

The St John of God (SJOG) board met last week to discuss the future of the services after the organisation said it faces a €32.5 million deficit.

Staff at SJOG were informed that, unless extra funding is received by the HSE to cover the deficit, the process of transferring services will begin.

In a statement Friday, SJOG said it will “transfer all service provision to the HSE later this year” and added that it’s intended for this transition to be completed by 15 August.

SJOG is one of the biggest providers of intellectual disability and mental health services in the country, working with around 8,000 children, adolescents and adults.

It employs some 3,000 people in 300 locations across Dublin, Kildare, Kerry, Wicklow, Meath, Monaghan and Louth.

A group representing the 8,000 services users, the National Parents and Families Association of St John Of God, said they were “deeply concerned and alarmed by the fresh uncertainty caused by the proposed transfer of services”.

The group has “strongly urge the HSE and SJOG Community Services to return immediately to the negotiating table to resolve any remaining disagreement regarding funding”.

‘Saddest day in Service’s history’

On Friday, Chief Executive of Saint John of God Community Services, Clare Dempsey, said the announcement of the transfer of services represented the “saddest day in the history of the Service”.

Since 2020, the SJOG and the HSE have engaged jointly in a “Sustainability Impact Assessment” process.

The SJOG spokesperson said the aim of this was to “establish the level of funding required to provide services to the required standard”.

“Unfortunately, the HSE has not committed to the core additional funding required to sustain service provision nor addressed the accumulated deficit,” said the spokesperson.

The National Parents and Families Association of St John Of God People said in a statement that it had been “hoped that progress would be made on the Sustainability Impact Assessment”.

The statement added: “The HSE and SJOG have spent three years working on this, but despite this detailed work the two sides have failed to reach agreement while those with disabilities and their families continue to suffer.

“This setback is devastating for parents and families, whose loved ones are now receiving sub-standard services.”

The group added that “full transparency regarding the costs is essential in order to resolve any remaining uncertainty” and that “all data and costs in the Sustainability Impact Assessment exercise should be published as a matter of urgency”.

“We urge an immediate resumption of discussions and full transparency in the interest of our vulnerable citizens,” said the statement.

The HSE said on Friday that it was “shocked and disappointed” at the SJOG announcement.

“We have worked with them over the last number of years on funding-related matters,” said the HSE.

“SJOGCS’s services have had an in-year break even each year for several years, with the help of substantial HSE support, and there is no reason to believe that 2024 will be any different,” the HSE added.

HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said that “if despite substantial assistance in a €200 million grant to SJOG annually, they remain insistent on withdrawing from service provision then we will require them to do so in an orderly and appropriate fashion having regard to the rights of service users and their staff”.

Gloster also said he does “not accept it is appropriate or responsible for a declaration of handover by August this year”.

“We urge SJOG to remove the anxiety for families and continue their engagement safe in the knowledge they have more than enough money and assurance to avoid such an immediate action,” Gloster said.

The HSE said it is open to further meetings with SJOG to “discuss the resolution of its financial position”, but added that it wants to “emphasise again” that SJOG “has sufficient funding”.

St John of God Hospital and Saint Joseph’s Shankill will be unaffected by Friday’s announcement.