HSE admission:All hospitals in large urban areas, like most public buildings, face potential risks of drug dealing on their premises, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said yesterday.
Its statement came in the wake of reports that drug dealing was common in the A&E unit, foyer, and in some wards of Dublin's St James's Hospital.
Dublin's Mater hospital has now also confirmed it has problems with drugs being taken into the hospital from time to time but said these were "isolated incidents". It was not a systemic problem, a hospital spokesman said.
It is understood that a few weeks ago, a patient at the Mater who went out to use the smokers' shelter was seen shooting up on heroin. The patient was warned on re-entering the hospital that if this happened again the incident would be reported to the gardaí.
Susan Collins, co-ordinator of Addiction Response Crumlin (Arc), said drug taking and drug dealing had been a problem among patients at St James's for about two years but was getting worse. Two years ago it was not uncommon for patients who were addicts to leave the hospital in a taxi to get drugs, she said, but now the drugs were being brought into the hospital to them.
She said one of her staff witnessed drugs being offered to a patient in the hospital, who was a client of Arc, last week.
"A staff member was also in the A&E unit last week with a family member and noticed a lot of drug dealing while there over a six-hour period," she said.
The drugs changing hands in the hospital included cocaine, heroin, amphetamines and hash. "Whatever you want is available in the hospital," she said.
"They [ the dealers] would be going around asking 'are you looking'. If you are, you will know it's drugs they are offering," she added.
Spokespeople for Tallaght and Blanchardstown hospitals insisted drug dealing was not a problem in their facilities.
But the HSE, in a statement, said: "Unfortunately, all hospitals in large urban areas, like most public buildings, face potential risks of drug dealing on their premises. Hospitals work closely with the gardaí to minimise such activity and there are protocols in place to alert the gardaí where concerns arise."
It added that internal security measures such as closed-circuit television and dedicated security staff, were in place in all hospitals.
St James's Hospital, in a statement, said it was taking the problem very seriously and had been dealing with it for some considerable time. "There is a policy of very active reporting to the gardaí," it said. But it added that "the control of this drug use/drug dealing difficulty is compounded by the fact that the campus of the hospital has a constant flow of traffic, including a bus route".
Labour's health spokeswoman, Liz McManus, described the situation as extremely alarming. "This situation is clearly intolerable and cannot be allowed to continue. This activity poses a serious threat to all patients and not just those who may have a drug dependency," she said.