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	<span style="color:#000000;">A community group is calling for an independent investigation by the Mental Health Commission following the&nbsp;Health Service Executive&#39;s refusal of six houses for the former residents of a sheltered hostel.</span></h2>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">The HSE closed down the Island View high-support hostel in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, last month, relocating its six remaining residents.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">Three were moved to an apartment complex in the town centre and two to the community hospital.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">However, one elderly man was moved to a nursing home in Kenmare, 78km away.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">The Iveragh Mental Health Association, a voluntary group set up to support mental health services in the area, has accused the HSE of ignoring its own guidelines.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">Cahersiveen Social Services, a not-for-profit voluntary group, had offered the HSE six two-bedroom bungalows they are building in the town on the grounds that it would create a &quot;cluster&quot;.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">Spokesman for Iveragh Mental Health Association Christy O&#39;Connell has also accused junior minister&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1em;">Kathlee</span><span style="font-size: 1em;">n Lynch</span>, who has responsibility for mental health, of going back on her word that all residents of the unit would be accommodated in their own area.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">&quot;How is it accommodating someone in their own area when you place a man in his 70s in a home that&#39;s miles away?&quot; Mr O&#39;Connell said.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">&quot;He has no family and no one to speak up for him. He used to walk the roads here every day, never did a bit of harm to anyone and now he&#39;s confined in a residential unit in a place he doesn&#39;t know.&quot;</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">Mr O&#39;Connell said the houses being offered by Cahersiveen Social Services overlook the marina, while the development has a good mix of residents including elderly people and families.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">The houses are near other key services, including a community bus and the meals on wheels.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">It&#39;s also located near the church, GAA grounds and shops.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">The matter was also raised by local councillor and chairman of Cahersiveen Social Services Paul O&#39;Donoghue at a meeting of Kerry County Council.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;"><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em;">PSYCHIATRIST</strong></span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">The council has invited Ms Lynch to address it on the issue.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">Meanwhile, the HSE said all residents had been appropriately accommodated following an assessment by a multi-disciplinary team led by a consultant psychiatrist.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">A statement said there had been ongoing consultation with the residents, their families, staff and the &quot;wider supporting network of services&quot; regarding the re-accommodation of residents.</span></p>
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		<span style="color:#000000;">Area manager Michael Fitzgerald said although proposals from voluntary groups were welcome, the HSE had to ensure it did not end up developing &quot;a form of institutional care&quot; that was completely against the &quot;recovery model of service&quot; that was required.</span></p>
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		<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/independent-probe-call-after-hse-separates-mental-health-patients-29707268.html"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/independent-probe-call-after-hse-separates-mental-health-patients-29707268.html</span></a></p>
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