Our Lady's Hospital Ennis

lenc

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Did anyone on here work at Our Lady's Ennis? Or perhaps you know someone who did? Do you have knowledge about the place?

We'd love to hear from you at our new group on FaceBook!

Join us here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourladysennis/



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Lady Chatterton

I'll leave the link to the 'Our Lady's, Ennis' facebook page on this occasion.

Strictly speaking if you're going to start a thread on the Clare forum it should be to prompt discussion here on Boards.ie A thread shouldn't be set up solely to attract traffic to another site.

Mod hat off

Does anyone know what is happening with the Our Lady's site now? There was talk of a hotel opening out there at one point but I presume that had been put firmly on ice.

Balagan

lenc wrote: »

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Did anyone on here work at Our Lady's Ennis? Or perhaps you know someone who did? Do you have knowledge about the place?

We'd love to hear from you at our new group on FaceBook!

Join us here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourladysennis/
.

If you don't know of it already you might be interested in reading The Loony-Bin Trip by the American feminist writer Kate Millett. She writes of her diagnosis as being bipolar and her experiences with hospitals and trying to come off medication. She writes of being 'committed' to a mental hospital while on a trip to Ireland and the hospital in question was Our Lady's in Ennis.

lenc

Sorry Msd! should have asked first.

. I would of course be delighted to hear from anyone on boards.ie who has/had any dealings with Our Lady's.

Thanks very much Balagan! I will certainly look into the lead you have me.

All info advice or pointers gratefully accepted!

crazyguy01

MrsD007 wrote: »

I'll leave the link to the 'Our Lady's, Ennis' facebook page on this occasion.

Strictly speaking if you're going to start a thread on the Clare forum it should be to prompt discussion here on Boards.ie A thread shouldn't be set up solely to attract traffic to another site.

Mod hat off

Does anyone know what is happening with the Our Lady's site now? There was talk of a hotel opening out there at one point but I presume that had been put firmly on ice.

Wasn't there also talk a long time ago that it would become a third level, the first for Ennis?

Lady Chatterton

crazyguy01 wrote: »

Wasn't there also talk a long time ago that it would become a third level, the first for Ennis?

There was talk about that at one stage but it was only speculation there was no real plan there.

Part of the site was purchased by a consortium who had planned to develop a hotel there, I think Shannon Development purchased some land too.

I really believe that the HSE should have relocated the General Hospital there but there was never the political will to do it, it was a wasted opportunity, it could have been at the height of the boom when there was some money in the country :mad:

Balagan

Plans for private hospital there.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/60m-private-hospital-in-ennis-gets-go-ahead-219937.html

periodictable

I seem to remember a number of years ago, that the Ennis Town Development plan was quietly changed to allow for the building of a hotel on the site.
As for a third level college, I hope not. For a national population of 4.5 million, we have far too many, and many offering piss-poor services and courses and we cannot afford projects like these.
Even TCD ranks only 67th in the world rankings.

Lady Chatterton

Balagan wrote: »

Plans for private hospital there.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/60m-private-hospital-in-ennis-gets-go-ahead-219937.html

A private hospital, if it goes ahead will be better for the town and the county than another hotel but I beginning to wonder who will be using it. Private health insurance has become ridiculously expensive and more and more people are being forced to cancel or reduce their level of cover.

Mr. G

Good for the county, but I would question if it will used as an excuse for the HSE to cut A&E hours further at Ennis Mid West Regional Hospital. Especially with the budget coming up.

For the county, it means for people down in Kilkee (for instance) who don't have private health insurance they have to go up to Limerick when A&E is closed. And they have no hope of getting more A&E hours if this goes ahead.

It should not be used as an excuse for the HSE to cut A&E hours.

periodictable

MrsD007 wrote: »

A private hospital, if it goes ahead will be better for the town and the county than another hotel but I beginning to wonder who will be using it. Private health insurance has become ridiculously expensive and more and more people are being forced to cancel or reduce their level of cover.

Again, we don't need another private hospital-the Galway Clinic is just up the road.

Balagan

Mr. G wrote: »

Good for the county, but I would question if it will used as an excuse for the HSE to cut A&E hours further at Ennis Mid West Regional Hospital. Especially with the budget coming up.

For the county, it means for people down in Kilkee (for instance) who don't have private health insurance they have to go up to Limerick when A&E is closed. And they have no hope of getting more A&E hours if this goes ahead.

It should not be used as an excuse for the HSE to cut A&E hours.

But there are no 'Accident and Emergency' hours at Ennis hospital!

A & E there has been replaced with a 'Local Injury Unit'. That unit does not deal, at any time of the day or night, with people with 'serious head injury, abdominal pains, gynaecological problems, neck and back pain, injuries due to self harm and major injuries'. Kids under five with any broken bones or serious illness all have to go to Limerick no matter what time of the day (or night).

The new Local Injury Unit will be open during the same hours as the emergency centre it is replacing – from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.
It will treat adult patients and children aged over five with minor injuries such as suspected broken bones, sprains and strains, facial injuries, minor scalds and burns

http://www.clarepeople.com/2013/07/09/clare-children-under-5-to-go-to-limerick-accident-and-emergency/

Lady Chatterton

periodictable wrote: »

Again, we don't need another private hospital-the Galway Clinic is just up the road.

It's only up the road if you live in Ennis but if you're in West Clare you might like to have a procedure carried out closer to home. Cahercalla Hospital used to be popular for minor procedures but I haven't heard about the place recently apart from the great work they do in the nursing/hospice side of it.

glineli

MrsD007 wrote: »

I really believe that the HSE should have relocated the General Hospital there but there was never the political will to do it, it was a wasted opportunity, it could have been at the height of the boom when there was some money in the country :mad:

I agree completely, it was the obvious thing to do but it makes sense so it was completely overlooked.

Mr. G

Balagan wrote: »

But there are no 'Accident and Emergency' hours at Ennis hospital!

A & E there has been replaced with a 'Local Injury Unit'. That unit does not deal, at any time of the day or night, with people with 'serious head injury, abdominal pains, gynaecological problems, neck and back pain, injuries due to self harm and major injuries'. Kids under five with any broken bones or serious illness all have to go to Limerick no matter what time of the day (or night).

The new Local Injury Unit will be open during the same hours as the emergency centre it is replacing – from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.
It will treat adult patients and children aged over five with minor injuries such as suspected broken bones, sprains and strains, facial injuries, minor scalds and burns

http://www.clarepeople.com/2013/07/09/clare-children-under-5-to-go-to-limerick-accident-and-emergency/

My point being is that we will never get an A&E dept again in Ennis because this new hospital will be used as an excuse to cut more in the Budget Balagan.

Lady Chatterton

Mr. G wrote: »

My point being is that we will never get an A&E dept again in Ennis because this new hospital will be used as an excuse to cut more in the Budget Balagan.

You'll never see 24 hour A&E in Ennis again, the hospital has been downgraded, it's just one step up from a day hospital these days. It's a crying shame, I've had family members admitted there as emergency cases (prior to the removal of A&E) and they received fantastic care. The removal of 24 hour A&E has been a huge loss. It would be easier to accept if we really did have a Centre of Excellence in Limerick that was properly resourced but we don't :mad: Most of the time the A&E department in Limerick resembles a war zone.

lenc

Its such a shame to see the buildings going to wreck and ruin.I think the fact that the building is listed is an issue for developers.

As it is,unoccupied mostly since 2006? Deterioration is ongoing

blowin3

periodictable wrote: »

Again, we don't need another private hospital-the Galway Clinic is just up the road.

I had the pleasure if you excuse the pun of spending a week in the Galway Clinic. I can highly recommend but beware it does not come cheap and you better have proper insurance but after that you know that you are in good hands and not the HSE crap.

Lady Chatterton

lenc wrote: »

Its such a shame to see the buildings going to wreck and ruin.I think the fact that the building is listed is an issue for developers.

As it is,unoccupied mostly since 2006? Deterioration is ongoing

I'd have no sympathy for the developers who purchased it, they bought it for half nothing (pre Celtic Tiger prices) and they knew it was listed prior to purchase.

This might be of interest to you and your group.

Our Lady's Hospital

The archives of Our Lady’s Hospital Ennis was acquired in 2002 under a joint project with the Mid Western Health Board. The hospital records are a microcosm for the social and economic conditions pertaining in Ennis and in County Clare and for this reason the archives are a valuable part of the county’s history. This is a large collection covering 108 linear feet. It took over a year to fully process the collection and the material is now available to the public. Closure periods have been agreed with the Health Service Executive (Mid-Western region) to protect the privacy of individuals.

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/archives/our_ladys_hospital.htm

periodictable

blowin3 wrote: »

I had the pleasure if you excuse the pun of spending a week in the Galway Clinic. I can highly recommend but beware it does not come cheap and you better have proper insurance but after that you know that you are in good hands and not the HSE crap.

Me too but it's all a question of priorities-health insurance gets paid before outgoings on leisure.

Lady Chatterton

periodictable wrote: »

Me too but it's all a question of priorities-health insurance gets paid before outgoings on leisure.

I agree that health insurance is an necessity but it is becoming very difficult for an average family (2 Adults & 2 Children) to afford, it's at least a couple of thousand a year for very basic cover.

Nevermind_

MrsD007 wrote: »

I'd have no sympathy for the developers who purchased it, they bought it for half nothing (pre Celtic Tiger prices) and they knew it was listed prior to purchase.

This might be of interest to you and your group.



http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/archives/our_ladys_hospital.htm

:eek:
are you insane the "developers" inc Alan Flynn of the old ground paid over 5 million euro for it at public auction!
If you sold it today you would struggle to get 1 million.
As for the private hospital planned, I really cant see it happening. I think they were just trying to add value to the site but who is going to finance a private hospital in Ennis to the tune of 20-30 odd million?

Lady Chatterton

Nevermind_ wrote: »

:eek:
are you insane the "developers" inc Alan Flynn of the old ground paid over 5 million euro for it at public auction!
If you sold it today you would struggle to get 1 million.
As for the private hospital planned, I really cant see it happening. I think they were just trying to add value to the site but who is going to finance a private hospital in Ennis to the tune of 20-30 odd million?

€5 million was very little at the time, the HSE who owned the hospital were spending massive sums on renting properties around Ennis, it would have made far more sense to relocate most of their services to the Gort Road. It's worth noting that land was sold in parts of Ennis for about €18 million not too long after. The current owners sat on the site for too long, they should have developed it or flipped it. I think they have missed their opportunity but I hope I'm wrong.

Stellaluna

I took an interest in Our Lady's a few years back - I was walking around the grounds on a particularly cold day and noticed water flowing out of the chapel doors and reported it. Almost a year later I met the caretaker who is a very nice gentleman and he was able to tell me some of the history. Although there doesn't seem to be any site development happening any time soon, the building hosts training for civil defence occasionally and was the venue for an art exhibition a few years back. As you probably know, the grounds are used for various things including an annual garden fete and the christmas tree throwing competition. An annual mass is held at the nearby Holy Well for former staff and residents. The grounds are well maintained and the building is well looked after although repair and maintenance work is limited.

There was a two storey building (it's name escapes me for the moment) that sat to the left of the chapel that was used to assess patients before moving them in to Our Lady's itself. If you visit you can see the terazzo and tiled floor footprint which is all that now remains of this building.

Last year I came across a photograph of a patients' rugby team posed in front of the hospital with a trophy. I brought it to the care taker to see if we might be able to identify anyone in the photograph, but other than Dr Power (who was the Resident Medical Superintendent at the hospital from 1957-1982) we didn't have much luck. The photograph was probably taken some time before 1967 as the building still had it's chimney stacks and pots - these were damaged in a storm in 1967 and removed. The hospital then changed over to turf boilers, getting rid of all but one of the hospital's once numerous fireplaces. I have since submitted the photograph to the County Clare archives which they were happy to have but it won't be available to view publicly since permission cannot be sought from the individuals in the photograph or their families.

lenc

Dr. Power was RMS in my fathers time at Our Lady's.I understand he was instrumental in getting the high walls removed and integration encouraged with the public to the benefit of patients and public.

Radio5

Has anyone ever written the history of the hospital ?

Balagan

Radio5 wrote: »

Has anyone ever written the history of the hospital ?

Don't know, but here is some info re archives etc.,

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/library/developments/oral_history_project.htm

Stellaluna

In terms of a comprehensive book covering the history, I don't think such a thing has been published. Clare County Archives carried out an oral history project and Our Lady's Hospital was part of the first phase of the project recorded in 2002. The Clare county archives also have all the paper records taken from the hospital in 2002. There is a wealth of archive material that would certainly be a good basis for writing a history. It's quite possible one is in the works I guess.

There are some short pieces on Our Lady's history online and some National Archive/architectural heritage information about the buildings. There are also Mental Health Commission inspection reports available online which make for interesting reading.

lenc

Where would one find the commission reports Stellaluna?


I am looking into any options that are open to the public,to find out all I can about Our Lady's.

Stellaluna

Go to www.lenus.ie/hse and type in 'mental health inspection report' into the small search box in the top left hand corner of the page and hit return. Then scroll down the page until you see this part of the screen:



You'll need to type in 'our lady's ennis' in the box underneath the one with 'mental health inspection report'

then hit the search button and you'll get results like this:


What you're looking for are the annual mental health reports as they contain reports on all of Ireland's mental hospitals for the year. Unfortunately I can't find a more efficient search method so it's a case of wading through the results to get the reports. Just click on the report you want and then it's a case of right clicking and downloading the .pdf file. If you need any more help let me know.

lenc

thanks stellaluna.that looks very interestin indeed. sorry for the delay in replying to your post.I am in Ennis today and tomorrow DV and didnt get a chance to look.

thanks again!

Stellaluna

No probs, hope it helps!