Contract ends for worker who blew whistle

A WHISTLEBLOWER who recently highlighted the poor treatment of patients at St Brendan’s psychiatric hospital in Grangegorman has been told her contract as a mental health advocate is terminated.

Louise Bayliss, a separated mother of two from Dublin, had a six-month contract to act as an advocate for mentally ill patients at various hospitals around Dublin.

She says she was advised that she was likely to have regular employment following this contract as an advocate at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.

However, just three months into her contract, she was told on Wednesday that her services were no longer required.

Yesterday, Ms Bayliss said she felt she had been targeted for highlighting issues at the hospital.

“I’m very upset because this wasn’t just a job – it was what I was really interested in doing. I did a master’s on equality with dissertations and essays on mental health, all with the intention of getting into mental health advocacy,” she said. “I worked very hard for patients. It now looks like I was too devoted to them and too passionate. And it doesn’t seem to fit into the agenda. I wanted to change the system, but I’m sorry it ended up like this.”

She said that after first highlighting the issue on RTÉ's Liveline, she was removed from all wards and told she required further training.

Then, earlier this week, she said she was told by managers at the Irish Advocacy Network that there was not enough time for her to complete this training. The duration of the course, she said, was about six full days of training.

“I don’t blame the Irish Advocacy Network for what happened. They rely on the Health Service Executive for funding. I was told ‘they wanted me off the ward’. When I asked them who ‘they’ was, they said the HSE,” Ms Bayliss said.

In a statement yesterday, the HSE said Ms Bayliss was not an employee of the executive.

While it provided funding to the Irish Advocacy Network, the HSE said in a statement that it “did not involve itself in the organisation’s internal matters” and had no role in relation to staff contracted.

A spokesperson for the Irish Advocacy Network was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Richard Boyd Barrett TD said the dismissal of Ms Bayliss appeared to be a “clear act of retaliation” following her highlighting of conditions at St Brendan’s.