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Leaders Questions 26 April 2018

April 26, 2018
Today in the Dáil I raised during Leaders Questions the serious issue of our children and young people being failed by our mental health system.
Children and their parents face immense challenges to get an adequate, or indeed any, service. Due to this, many children carry those difficulties into their adult lives.
 
The position would be much worse were it not for the tremendous work done by community and voluntary organisations across the country. There are many such organisations in my own area, including the River Suir Suicide Patrol, Taxi Watch and C-SAW, the community suicide awareness workers. These all operate on a voluntary, unpaid basis and do tremendous work. There is huge frustration among these organisations, which feel alone in dealing with issues that should be properly dealt with by the public mental health service. These organisations need to be acknowledged, supported and resourced, along with financial support.
 
We are failing to provide for our young people. We need to do so urgently, it must become a Government priority. We cannot, should not, and hopefully, will not kick the can further down the road in this. They need to be implemented urgently not in the next budget but now, because this is something that is affecting young people on a minute by minute basis.
https://youtu.be/OHjT_FvxXAo
Leaders Questions 26 April 2018
Deputy Seamus Healy: Children and young people are being failed by our mental health system. For the past three months since February, young people experiencing mental health difficulties have been admitted to the paediatric ward in South Tipperary General Hospital. Today, there are three young people on the ward. There have been as many as five and their lengths of stay have been as long as eight weeks. The reason for this, as we all know, is that there are simply not enough inpatient beds for young people with mental health difficulties.
 
Admissions to the paediatric ward in South Tipperary General Hospital are totally inappropriate. Nursing staff do their best. They are kind, compassionate and caring but they are not trained to provide mental health care. Parents, usually mothers, must stay on the ward overnight to give support to their children. Of course, there are knock-on effects in delayed admissions for other patients. Every day, young people with mental health difficulties do not receive the age-appropriate timely services and supports they need. This causes psychological and social damage to these young people. It has a detrimental effect, not just on themselves, but also on their parents, their siblings, their schools and their communities. Of course, it reinforces the whole stigma regarding those with mental health difficulties. Children and their parents face immense challenges to get an adequate, or indeed any, service. Due to this, many children carry those difficulties into their adult lives.
 
We all know what needs to be done. We have had report after report. The problem is we have had no action on those reports or their recommendations. I remind the Tánaiste that to tackle this significant issue, we need additional inpatient beds for children and young people with mental health difficulties and 24-7 crisis intervention teams providing rapid assessment for those children and young people. We need a comprehensive primary care counselling service and a fully staffed existing child and adolescent mental health teams. We also need to resource and support, including financially, community and voluntary organisations working in these areas. We need a designated leader – a tsar-type arrangement – whose sole duty and responsibility will be to drive the implementation of these measures to ensure our young people get the services they deserve and need urgently. It should be like how cancer care services developed recently.
 
When will we see these measures being implemented by the Government?
 
The Tánaiste: I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, to revert to the Deputy with more details on South Tipperary General Hospital after Leaders’ Questions. He is aware of some of the cases to which the Deputy referred and he has spoken to some of the parents involved.
 
Staffing and necessary skills shortages need to be addressed in the context of extra beds. Up to €55 million of additional funding has been committed for next year to develop new services, which will involve ten new beds in the Central Mental Hospital and 20 new child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, beds coming to the new children’s hospital. There is a recognition that there is a deficit. We are providing significant resources to address that.
 
On the broader mental health service issues, funding this year is almost €1 billion at €910 million. That is an increase of €200 million since 2012. In excess of 2,000 new posts have been approved since 2012, of which over 1,300, 66%, have been recruited with recruitment ongoing for the remainder. The appointment of 114 assistant psychologists and 20 staff grade psychologists for primary care child psychology services is ongoing. A series of actions are happening which are linked to reports which have been done. This represents incremental improvement all the time.
 
However, I am aware there are certain pressure points in different parts of the country. This is a particularly sensitive area in child and adolescent mental health services. We have seen significant increases in funding and funding commitments with the staff and beds that need to go with that. The challenge is ongoing. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, to come back to the Deputy with a more detailed answer on services in Tipperary.
 
Deputy Seamus Healy: While I thank the Tánaiste for the reply, we cannot continue to kick this can down the road. These issues must be dealt with urgently. The Tánaiste referred to recruitment. There are currently 500 psychiatric nurse vacancies in this country. The position would be much worse were it not for the tremendous work done by community and voluntary organisations across the country. There are many such organisations in my own area, including the River Suir Suicide Patrol, Taxi Watch and C-SAW, the community suicide awareness workers. These all operate on a voluntary, unpaid basis and do tremendous work. There is huge frustration among these organisations, which feel alone in dealing with issues that should be properly dealt with by the public mental health service. These organisations need to be acknowledged, supported and resourced, along with financial support.
 
We are failing to provide for our young people. We need to do so urgently, it must become a Government priority. We cannot, should not, and hopefully, will not kick the can further down the road in this. They need to be implemented urgently not in the next budget but now, because this is something that is affecting young people on a minute by minute basis.
 
 
The Tánaiste: I reaffirm to the Deputy that no one is kicking the can down the road on anything here. It is a programme of action that is already under way. The construction of a national forensic mental health complex at Portrane is progressing well and should be completed by 2020. There are other improvements such as in counselling services, including new Jigsaw sites in Cork, Dublin and Limerick, to bring a total of 13 sites nationally, and there is continued development of the community mental health teams and improved 24-7 response and liaison services are improving the contact within communities. An eating disorder care programme was launched in January 2018, which is patient-centred in care and recovery. In line with the provisions of A Vision for Change, the HSE has prioritised mental health needs for those under 18 years. We are focusing on reducing CAMHS waiting lists and improving mental health teams. There are currently 69 CAMHS teams nationally. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, is working with the HSE and officials to establish a national telephone and text line for mental health services, and the list goes on. There are a lot of things happening in this area but there is a lot more to be done, and we recognise that.

Posted by in Children, Health, Mental Health Services

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The Save Our Acute Hospital Services Committee says Thanks!

February 19, 2018

Save-Our-Acute-Hospital-Services (1).png

Clonmel, 18th February 2018- The recent approval of new developments at South Tipperary General Hospital, including a 40-bed modular unit, capital investment for a 50-bed new-construct unit and improved out-patient facilities proves once again that people power works.

 

The Save Our Acute Hospital Services Committee welcomes developments at the hospital and commends and thanks all those who played a part in this very positive and significant outcome including the public, patients and their families, hospital staff, local public representatives and Oireachtas members.

 

Were it not for the Committees project and success in stopping the transfer of all the hospitals acute services to Kilkenny and Waterford, the future developments of the hospital as announced this week would never have happened.  That success was a game-changer for the hospitals future development.

 

The knowledge that 15,000 people from all over Tipperary and indeed parts of County Waterford turned out on the streets of Clonmel and, importantly, that they would turn out again if necessary sent a message to the Health Service Executive, the Department of Health and the Government that could not be ignored.  South Tipperary General Hospital must be retained and developed.  And, again, I would like to commend those that took to the streets.  The publics continued contribution is vital to the hospital and it sets South Tipperary General apart.  

 

South Tipperary was alone in defying the powers-that-be in stopping the transfer of services and the downgrading of the hospital.  The Health Service Executive and the Department of Health succeeded in downgrading Nenagh, Ennis, Mallow, Monaghan and Roscommon.

 

The success of the Save Our Acute Hospital Services Committee established a platform for the future upgrading of the hospital, for the development of services and for a solution to the trolley crisis.

 

The Committee, working on a united basis with all stakeholders, met successive Ministers for Health including Minister James Reilly, Minister Leo Varadkar and Minister Simon Harris to impress upon them the need to solve overcrowding and to develop the hospital.

 

The Committees job now is to ensure that the promises made are implemented, and as speedily as possible, and to that effect the committee is again meeting the South West Hospital Group and South Tipperary General Hospital Management on Monday the 19th of February to progress the construction of the 40-bed modular unit.

 

The closure of St. Michael’s In-patient Psychiatric Unit at South Tipperary General Hospital by the Minister Kathleen Lynch was a huge blow to patients and their families and it is now widely accepted to have been a mistake.  South Tipperary patients must now travel to Kilkenny for in-patient treatment and North Tipperary patients to Ennis.  This is totally impractical and is leading to late admissions, inappropriate early discharges, severe over-crowding and harrowing difficulties for patients and their families who must travel to support their loved ones.

 

The Committee and Oireachtas members have already met Mr. Jim Daly, Minister with responsibility for Mental Health Services with a view to returning in-patient beds to Clonmel.  The Minister will visit the services in Clonmel on Tuesday the 20th of February to see the situation for himself and to engage with members of the Save Our Acute Hospital Services Committee, Mental Health Services Management and Oireachtas members on the issue.

 

There have been positive exchanges with the Minister and local Health Service Executive Mental Health Management recently.

 

The Committee and all stake-holders are determined that in-patient psychiatric beds will be returned to Clonmel.

 

Seamus Healy T.D. Chairperson Save Our Acute Hospital Services Committee

087 2802199

052 6121883

seamus.healy@oir.ie

Posted by in Health, Mental Health Services, South Tipperary General Hospital

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South Tipperary General Hospital

November 7, 2017
Deputy Seamus Healy, Chairperson of the Save Our Acute Hospital Services Committee, has welcomed the outcome of yesterday’s collaborative and consultative meeting with officials of the South West Hospital Group and South Tipperary General Hospital.
This process, agreed with Minister for Health Simon Harris on his recent visit, is designed to ensure local input into the delivery of the 40 bed modular unit for the hospital in an efficient and timely fashion.
Since the Hospital Committee’s formation in November 2008 its mission has been “to save, to support and to expand the hospital and hospital services.”
The first part of that mission was successful when, led by the committee, “People Power” of 15,000 people marched on the streets of Clonmel and stopped the H.S.E. from transferring all our acute services to Kilkenny and Waterford.
The Chief Operations Officer of the South West Hospital Group confirmed that a contract in the amount of €800,000 has been awarded for the completion of enabling works and site preparations for the new 40 bed modular unit.
The Unit itself will go to tender this week with a closing date for receipt of tenders of December 1st.
Following examination of tenders received, it is intended to award the Contract at a meeting on 15th December next.
A further meeting, in the Consultative process, with the Save Our Acute Hospital Services Committee and Oireachtas Members will take place in the first week of January 2018 to ensure that the momentum is maintained and the 40 bed unit is delivered on time.
The need for capital investment for infrastructural development at the hospital was also discussed and the Committee welcomed the completion of the Development Control Place for the hospital including the construction of a new 50 bed unit, upgrading of the older parts of the Hospital and the delivery of a newly located and refurbishment Outpatients Department.
The Committee and Oireachtas members expect that capital investment for the hospital will be announced in the Capital Investment Programme shortly and that the Hospital will be included in the 10 year Capital Programme.
The Save our Acute Hospital Services Committee is also aware that the Mental Health Service in the County is not fit for purpose, is underfunded, under resourced and understaffed.
We believe that inpatient mental health services must be returned to the county from Kilkenny and Ennis and that our Community Based Teams must be properly resourced.
To that end, we have arranged for a Deputation to meet with Minister Jim Daly T.D., Minister with responsibility for Mental Health Services to urgently address these issues.
Seamus Healy T.D.
Chairperson
Save Our Acute Hospital Services Committee
07/11/2017

Posted by in Health, Mental Health Services, South Tipperary General Hospital

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