THE DISCOVERY by the State’s mental health inspectors that wards in several psychiatric hospital are unfit for human habitation is “not surprising”, given cutbacks to the Republic’s mental health services, the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association of Ireland (PNA) has said.
PNA general secretary Des Kavanagh said that at present, mental health services account for about 6.8 per cent of overall health expenditure, down from 13.7 per cent 25 years ago. This was despite the fact the State’s move away from large institution-based services of the past would require more expenditure.
Mr Kavanagh said he was not hopeful of a change in current mental health services funding, saying, “The Minister [for Health] seems committed to privatising large parts of our services. I’ve no great confidence of improvement in the future.”
He said: “In the early 1980s, we were predominantly institution-based, with up to 1,000 patients in an institution. The plan in the early 80s was to close down these large institutions, and move towards community-based care. When [former] minister Barry Desmond launched this, he said it would cost more to provide contemporary mental health services. Instead, what has happened is that there has been a virtual halving in expenditure on mental health services.”
Mr Kavanagh acknowledged the provision in the Budget earlier this month allowing mental health services assets to be sold off in an effort to raise money for modern mental health infrastructure. However, he noted “every time money has been assigned to mental health, it never gets there”.
Commenting on the report of the Inspectorate of Mental Health Services of the State’s 63 psychiatric hospitals, which was published yesterday in The Irish Times, Mr Kavanagh said Ireland had “developed some excellent services . . . we know what works, we knows what’s good” but added that these services had not been mainstreamed.
Meanwhile, Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey has called on the Health Service Executive to provide “a full and open explanation” after the report highlighted serious lapses at Cappahard Lodge in Ennis. The 35-bed facility provides psychiatric care for older people, and was noted for its lack of managerial and clinical leadership, which resulted in patients not receiving active or timely reviews of care.