CLOSED… Shannagh nursing home, Belleek
AN 80-year-old man is being forced to move 65 miles away from his home in Belleek after distraught residents at Shannagh Nursing Home were told it will close by today (Wednesday).
Family members were forced to break the distressing news to Sean Boyle who is among 15 residents at the Belleek nursing home.
To date five patients have been moved from the nursing home while another four residents were to be moved last Wednesday as family and social workers battle to find alternative accommodation.
The privately run nursing home, which has been operating for 22 years, is expected to close by today after it was deemed no longer financially viable.
Shocked family members of Mr Boyle said he has been left upset and annoyed at the closure of the nursing home where he has lived for three years.
His sister-in-law Kate Boyle told the Fermanagh Herald that the stress of moving away from all his friends will “wear him away”.
“Sean has been left in such a state and we have been left very annoyed at the whole thing,” she said.
“He wouldn’t believe us when we told him it was closing, he kept saying it can’t be closing and I’m still not sure if he has realised he has to move on elsewhere or that most of the others have been moved on.
“We noticed that there was only about 15 residents left and the numbers were starting to fall and the social workers weren’t sending on any new members. It was as if they stopped taking residents in.
“We visited him the day after we found out but Sean wouldn’t believe us which made it difficult to try and get something from him about where he would like to go. We spent over two hours with him to try and keep him on track. It’s awful and would have taken a tear out of a stone.”
His brother Pat, also from Belleek but now living in Co Tyrone stated: “He’s been there for nearly three years and absolutely loves it. He knows the local people coming in and out of the home as well as the business people from the town who went up every evening to see them all, it will be a void for the village.
“This will probably wear him away, he’s been left so upset by it all and because they want him out so quickly we are being forced to get him somewhere temporary to stay until a room becomes available in a nursing home near Dungannon.”
Calls have since been made for the Western Health Trust to step in and prevent the nursing home, which has a 30-bed facility, from closing while local politicians have called for senior health officials to intervene.
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