Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Beds at the Citywest step-down facility last year (file photo) Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Average occupancy of Citywest isolation facility was 13.8% during first six months of pandemic

The facility opened to ease pressure on the health service in March 2020.

THE AVERAGE OCCUPANCY of a 756-room HSE-run isolation facility in Citywest was just 13.8% during the first six months of the pandemic, new records show.

An internal audit by the HSE of the contract for the Covid-19 facility at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin found that 104 people on average used the service every day between April and September 2020.

The centre opened at the beginning of the pandemic as part of efforts to ease pressure on hospitals in Dublin and surrounding areas at a time when it was feared the number of people who would be hospitalised with the virus could dramatically increase.

The Government sought provide accommodation for members of the public who could manage their symptoms and were required to self-isolate, but who were unable to do so at home.

The opening of the facility followed decisions to close schools and other institutions on 12 March last year, and to impose a stay-at-home order and a ban on non-essential travel from 27 March.

A HSE audit of the contract agreed between the health service and the Citywest Hotel, completed in June of this year and released to The Journal’s investigative platform Noteworthy under the Freedom of Information Act, reveals that the facility was leased from 26 March “in anticipation of an imminent surge in Covid-19 cases”.

“The contract terms included the cost of staff to provide hotel services including catering, housekeeping, cleaning and sanitation, as well as waste disposal, maintenance, utilities, and insurance,” the audit report reads.

“The lease (in technical form a licence) was for the period to 31 December 2020, with the HSE having an option to terminate after seven months.”

  • The Noteworthy team wants to find out if funds on Covid contracts were spent wisely and rules followed. Support this project here.

According to the audit, the cost of the contract was based on going rates for hotel and conference facilities before the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the assumption of 100% occupancy of Citywest’s 756 hotel rooms throughout the duration of the lease.

The hotel’s convention centre was also deployed as a step-down care facility, providing 450 beds to people who have tested positive for Covid-19.

A negotiated cost of €3.51 million per month for a minimum of seven months (a total of €24.57 million) was approved by the Department of Health before the facility was opened.

However, in its first month open, just 70 people on average used the self-isolation centre each night – an occupancy rate of 9.2%.

The number dropped further – to its lowest point – in June 2020 when just 56 people on average isolated at the hotel each night (7.3%), though it peaked two months later when 163 people on average isolated there each night (21.5%).

In total, 19,874 people stayed at the facility between the end of March and the end of October 2020.

An outline of licence terms also shows that the HSE paid €122.68 for each of the 756 rooms every day between 26 March and 22 October 2020, bringing the cost of accommodation alone to almost €19.7 million for the first six months of the contract. 

Catering also cost an average of €22 per person per day, equal to around €437,228 in total.

However, the audit’s author attributed the low use of the isolation facility to the success of Covid-19 laws and guidelines at limiting the spread of the virus among the general public.

“Due to the success of the pandemic control measures nationally in this period, the occupancy of the 756 contracted hotel rooms in the six months April to September was only 13.8%,” the report reads.

An option to terminate the initial contract after six months was exercised by the HSE in June 2020, and a new licence was agreed on different terms for the period from 23 October 2020 to June 2021.

A reduction in the daily cost of 71% was negotiated, while a lower room rate and a lower minimum number of rooms were also agreed upon.

In September, it was also reported that the Citywest Hotel’s contract with the HSE was extended again and that it would continue to be used until 2022. However, this was not covered by the terms of the HSE’s internal audit.

The audit concluded that the original contract was “terminated and replaced on more favourable terms at the earliest opportunity”.

“The necessity for large-scale isolation facilities for people affected by the virus had not been planned for when Covid-19 struck Ireland,” the report concludes.

“[The HSE] were suddenly presented with the task of sourcing such facilities under conditions of extreme urgency and uncertainty, and they succeeded in doing so by securing the Citywest campus, an eminently suitable premises, with a fully worked-out service contract with the owner, in under three weeks.

“Community Operations brought the self-isolation facility into use immediately.

“This impressive achievement is not diminished by the fact that the assumption of full occupancy turned out, fortunately, to be unrealised, and that the first licence did not contain the more flexible utilisation provisions as negotiated in the second licence, which superseded the original at the first opportunity after seven months.”

The report also found that the procurement of the facility was carried out in accordance with EU regulations applicable to the emergency situation happening at the time, and that the contract addressed the HSE’s requirements.

A number of key recommendations arising from the procurement of the Citywest Hotel were recommended, including the creation of a register of similar facilities as preparation for the risk of a similar emergency in future.

The author also found that the HSE should ask the Department of Health to “consider legal powers for public authorities to requisition private property in the event of future national public health emergencies”.

  • These HSE audits were provided to The Journal by our colleagues at Noteworthy – our investigative platform. They obtained these through a freedom of information (FOI) request as the Noteworthy team are hoping to investigate in more detail HSE spending during the pandemic. Find out more about their project here.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
16 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eoin O Shea
    Favourite Eoin O Shea
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 7:44 AM

    Great! For once they prepared for the worst and it didn’t happen.

    153
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jason Walsh
    Favourite Jason Walsh
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 11:01 AM

    @Eoin O Shea: or over prepared with the aim to fill the pockets of one of their buddies, pessimistic yes but exactly what happens in this country if ours.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Johnny Kelly
    Favourite Johnny Kelly
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 2:45 PM

    @Jason Walsh: Money well spent for a type of insurance. And why do people continue to run their country down?
    Look at other jurisdictions and you won’t see many differences, example the UK also pour sewage into rivers and seas.

    1
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neil Neart
    Favourite Neil Neart
    Report
    Nov 4th 2021, 12:25 AM

    @Eoin O Shea: not enough info available yet to conclude on this issue. Govt does not want an independent investigation. Why? SF will find out and shame these guys in due course.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Colette Kearns
    Favourite Colette Kearns
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 12:12 AM

    Looks like a bla place to be in if you’re feeling very ill ( only word I can use ) it looks like a homeless shelter, only difference is the beds are higher off the floor!

    76
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Clancy
    Favourite Paul Clancy
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 1:01 AM

    @Colette Kearns: I was designed to cater for those in recovery

    41
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
    Favourite Niall Ó Cofaigh
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 1:11 AM

    @Paul Clancy: yes, the HSE protocol for hospital detected casss that did not require hospitalisation was to discharge to City Weat or home isolation. There was anticipation that where multiple people were sharing accommodation and self isolation waa not possible then City West could also be used. While it cost a lot of money it was also an essential element in the covid strategy. If memory serves me it was also considrred as an isolation area for isolating health care workers. Back then we know so little and were on a rapid lesrning curve and seeing what was happening elsewhere in the world.

    182
    See 6 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Colette Kearns
    Favourite Colette Kearns
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 1:40 AM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: I’m just guessing but I think the virus was here long before February 2020 , I clearly remember so many people being really I’ll around most of December 2019, 2 close family were very I’ll & couldn’t actually do Christmas!! So makes you wonder.

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute
    Favourite
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 2:36 AM

    @Colette Kearns: makes sense. My nephew was very ill in January 2020, 3 weeks before he started to improve.

    My friends Dad didn’t want to attend his daughters Christmas Dinner 2019 he was so ill. He is normally the loudest there. He left shortly after. 2020 back to normal. He’s convinced he had covid.

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John B
    Favourite John B
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 5:59 AM

    I was very sick around Christmas 2018. Almost 3 weeks wiped out.
    Must have been Covid

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob Bulman
    Favourite Rob Bulman
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 7:22 AM

    @John B: true. I broke my arm in 1990 falling off my bike. Covid.

    107
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fozz
    Favourite Fozz
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 9:55 AM

    That was likely the Flu.
    There’s usually simple explanations of things.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Francis Devenney
    Favourite Francis Devenney
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 11:15 AM

    @Colette Kearns: Look at the cases, hospitalisations, and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic, now think what it would have been like if it was here for 2 or 3 months unchecked. Does it make sense that a virulent disease went unnoticed that long or does it make more sense that in the middle of flu season people had flu?

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter McGlynn
    Favourite Peter McGlynn
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 9:46 AM

    And paid over 250€ for each room when any hotel would gladly get any income from that period. Brilliant negotiations from government – was there even a tender process?

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sequoia
    Favourite Sequoia
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 10:08 AM

    @Peter McGlynn:

    There wasn’t time for a tender process

    Why didn’t the hotels offer a more competitive price? Can’t *always* blame the process or government.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter McGlynn
    Favourite Peter McGlynn
    Report
    Nov 3rd 2021, 2:33 PM

    @Sequoia: say what? There were many hotels around Dublin that would’ve been getting no-zero-nada for months because of the pandemic and you’re telling me the givernment had to pay above what the citiwest would normally get.
    You’re having a laugh.

    6
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds