Mr. Pat Bergin:

That is the position we take. Right throughout the night we have night staff monitoring children. At 10 p.m. there is a review of everyone in the unit. Two staff are on for the night looking after eight young people. They get a hand-over from the day staff on how, for example, Tommy got on during the night and what are the issues. There could be a five minute observation of that young person right up until they go to sleep and then after that it could be every ten or 15 minutes, but that will be determined by individual issues. Some young people ask that we do not come in to check on them after they fall asleep because it wakes them up and that creates further distress for them. Some young people have a very complicated history of self-harm. We usually get the information very quickly when they arrive because they have been involved in other services. The assessment, consultation and therapy service, ACTS, team links in with outside services and the GP is aware of it. Particular plans are put in place. We may have particular key workers that are aligned to a young person so as to have one or two staff engage with them. One does not want a large number of different adults engaging with a young person over a week. We tailor the approach.