I appeal to the Minister of State and the HSE to continue the funding of the five steps to living well with dementia project in south Tipperary. In 2012, south Tipperary received funding to develop a new and innovative dementia project for a three-year period. The project was jointly funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the HSE through the Genio trust. It is time to put the funding for the project and services on a permanent basis. A core principle of the project and the services in south Tipperary is to provide flexible, person-centred care in the home and allow people to remain at home for as long as possible. The project has been a great success. It has already transformed the life experience of many people with dementia and their families in south Tipperary and is an ideal template for the national dementia strategy. Crucially, the development of the services included dementia sufferers, their carers, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, the Carers Association, Muintir na Tíre, the South Tipperary Community and Voluntary Forum, GPs and representatives of the HSE. I acknowledge the vital input of people such as Dr. Caitríona Crowe, consultant in the psychiatry of old age, and Professor Eamon O’Shea of NUI Galway.
It is a five step programme, the key elements of which include a media campaign. The campaign was to raise awareness among the public about dementia, dispel myths and reduce stigma. There was buy-in to the programme by all the local media such as local radio stations, including Tipp FM, Tipp Mid West Radio and the print media. A community connector was appointed to liaise with organisations across the county and raise awareness in general about dementia and in particular about the services and supports available. Volunteers were largely provided by the Carers Association.
The single most important element of the programme was establishing a single point of contact to ensure people could access the information, supports and services they needed. The appointment of dementia support workers was also important. These people support people with dementia in their homes and ensure they can live at home for as long as possible and delay the need for long-term care. A further development at South Tipperary General Hospital is the memory technology library which provides a large range of assistive technology products to support people with memory loss. The programme in south Tipperary has been significant and successful and I compliment all those involved. I again ask the Minister of State to put permanent funding in place to continue it.
Speaking in the Dáil regarding Mental Health Services
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and to indicate my support for it. A Vision for Change, launched in 2006, was a template for a community-based, progressive and modern mental health care system. Today, ten years later, there is a crisis in our mental health services arising from, and compounded by, the failure to implement the policy set out in A Vision for Change.
The mental health services in my constituency of Tipperary are a case in point and highlight the malaise in the service currently, both locally and nationally. Despite the best efforts of staff, the service is dysfunctional. The Minister of State’s predecessor, the former Labour Party Minister of State, Kathleen Lynch, closed the inpatient unit at South Tipperary General Hospital, St. Michael’s unit, and transferred south Tipperary patients to Kilkenny and north Tipperary patients to Ennis. That was in 2012. She sold that closure on the basis of a promised quid pro quo that we would have a Rolls-Royce community-based service.
Three years later we have the worst of all worlds. We have no inpatient service, a issue to which I will return, and our community services are understaffed, under-resourced and underfunded. Our community-based teams, multidisciplinary teams supposedly, are struggling to provide a safe service. They are deficient in terms of staff numbers across all categories – nursing, medical and paramedical staff members. The promised provision of a crisis house has not materialised. The inpatient service has been transferred to Kilkenny for people from south Tipperary and to Ennis for people from north Tipperary. That means assessments of patients have to take place in a busy overcrowded accident and emergency department with no privacy or confidentiality. The unit in Kilkenny is overcrowded regularly, there is difficulty gaining admission, and if one gains admission, there is the practice of early discharge. The situation is completely unacceptable.
I call on the Minister of State to implement A Vision for Change immediately, including the 24/7 services, to recruit additional nursing, medical and paramedical staff for the multidisciplinary teams and to reopen St. Michael’s unit in Tipperary. I acknowledge the work done by the various voluntary organisations in this area, the community consumer mental health panels, the C-Saw suicide awareness group and others, and thank them for it.
Workers & Unemployed Action 