Staff at a second nursing home in Co Laois, which was due to close as part of HSE cutbacks, have been told this evening that this decision has been set aside while a period of consultation takes place with the residents and their families.
The HSE were not in a position to confirm what the staff had been told after a meeting at St Brigid's Community Hospital in Shaen, near Portlaoise, but said that a letter has gone out to all relatives of the people presently staying at the hospital.
Last week the decision to close the community nursing unit at a hospital in Abbeyleix was also set aside while consultation takes place with patients and their families.
