Petition for detox beds at Portlaoise hospital gathers hundreds of signatures

A petition for the provision of detoxification beds at Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise has amounted hundreds of signatures online.

The Addiction, Recovery and Community (ARC) Project, a voluntary and community led initiative in Portlaoise which supports people impacted by addiction, created the campaign in the hopes of providing dedicated detox beds for those who need them in Portlaoise and the surrounding area. 

Currently, there are no detox beds in Portlaoise for anyone who is suffering with addiction. 

The petition comes after Councillor Marie Tuohy called on Laois County Council in November on behalf of the Arc Project to push for the provision of such beds at Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise.

The petition is campaigning for the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, to establish three medically supervised detox beds with seven-day access as well as clear pathways into addiction and recovery services. The Arc Project said that Laois County Council has already called on the Minister to do so following Cllr Tuohy's request.

READ NEXT: Plea for money to replace Laois fire station with no women's toilets or showers

The Arc Project was founded in 2024 by David Delaney and Michelle Roberston. Since then, the initiative has provided support to families across Laois who have been impacted by addiction.

They provide one of only two recovery coaching services available outside of Dublin that is recognised by the HSE and Trinity College. The only other service of this kind is in Galway.

As well as this, they hold weekly meetings every Monday evening at the Laois Partnership Building for families affected by addiction. From Monday, 12 January they will also be adding another meeting to the Monday night schedule for individuals who have directly experienced addiction.

Speaking to the Leinster Express / Laois Live about the group’s campaign, co-founder David Delaney said: “I think in this day and age that with the money that’s in the country it’s a sad state of affairs when an individual expresses an intent to go to somewhere like Portlaoise hospital and they are turned away.”

He explained that people are not entirely turned away, but are detoxed in the sense that they are brought off the substance in an unsuitable environment: “But at that point the shame of the individual kicks in and 9 times out of 10 they will just go home with a sheet of paper basically saying ‘contact this service’.”

David emphasised: “It is taking a lot for individuals to actually get to the point of presenting to their local hospital with a cry for help and then for there to be no service in that hospital for them to be detoxed with a sense of humanity.”

He urged that A&E is not a place for a person presenting with addiction and so a dedicated unit is needed.

The project’s co-founder said that all local services are under pressure with demand: “CADS has a waiting list of 6 to 8 weeks depending on the case and Pieta House is a service that is not based in Laois. At the moment, Cuan Mhuire has a waiting list of up to 12 weeks.”

For the Arc Project, this is a simple and cost-effective solution. David made clear: “We’re not looking for three extra beds, we’re looking for a dedicated unit. We’re not creating a new service, it's just looking at what’s there.

“It’s not as if there’ll be new people presenting to Portlaoise just because there’s detox beds. It is just using resources in a more compassionate way.”

He continued: “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel or say the services don’t exist. The services that are there are jam packed. There’s a waiting list for anything available locally. We just want to join the dots between what’s there, identify the needs and try to get them created. That’s our role in this whole mess that is addiction services in this country.”

In their online petition, the group urged that people across the Midlands with addictions are at risk without these beds. The petition states: “Families are watching loved ones struggle without access to proper medical care at the moment it is most needed. This is a small, practical step that could save lives, support families, and give people in the Midlands a real chance at recovery.”

Back in November, Cllr Tuohy told Laois County Council that more and more people in the county are presenting with serious drug and alcohol dependence and these people need appropriate care. The detox beds are key to this, in addition to the seven-day admission pathways and integrated links to HSE addiction services and community recovery supports.

The Portlaoise councillor said: "CADS (Community Alcohol and Drug Services) do great work but when someone is at high medical risk, such as those with a history of seizures, or unsafe environments to detox, they need hospital based, medically supervised care."

She emphasised that providing three detox beds in Portlaoise would be a straight forward measure to help tackle this issue, saying it "would transform care available to families in this county."

Cllr Tuohy explained: "These beds would allow safe, supervised withdrawal care for the most vulnerable patients. This would prevent repeat emergency admissions and enable direct links with CADS teams to ensure every patient receives proper follow-up and support."

You can visit the Arc Project's online petition here.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme