Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Is the Deputy ready?

An equipping group has been determining the requirements of the unit and funding was made available earlier this year for this purpose. Despite the significant challenges imposed by the employment control framework and the associated moratorium on the recruitment of certain disciplines, the HSE is considering all options for opening the unit, including doing so on a phased basis, commencing in the first quarter of 2010.

The construction phase of Dingle Community Hospital was completed in late 2008 and the hospital is currently being equipped in the same way as the Tralee community nursing unit. The staffing requirements are currently being finalised. Despite the challenges faced in the provision of staffing, it is envisaged that the first phase of the opening of the new hospital will take place in the first quarter of 2010. This first phase will see the transfer of 43 residents from the current hospital to the new building. The total capacity will be 68 when fully operational.

When it was it was launched in 2006, A Vision for Change was universally welcomed as a progressive, evidence-based and realistic document which proposed a new model of service delivery that would be patient-centred, flexible and community-based. The report proposes a holistic view of mental illness and recommends an integrated multi-disciplinary approach to addressing the biological, psychological and social factors that contribute to mental health problems. Extensive consultation with service users, families and service providers informed this policy. The most pressing priority voiced was the need for an accessible and user-friendly mental health service in which users can be respected as active partners in their own recovery and where they can avail of interventions to enable them remain meaningfully involved in their own communities. The Government accepted A Vision for Change as the basis for the development of our mental health services over a seven to ten year period. Much has happened and much has changed economically since the report was launched, but it remains a progressive document and remains our roadmap, charting the way forward for our mental health services.

Mental health services are provided in many settings including acute inpatient facilities, day hospitals, day care centres, low support and high support community accommodation. A Vision for Change recognises that acute hospitalisation will be required to meet the needs of those who require care and treatment in an inpatient setting. However, service users, their families and carers want a range of mental health service options established in their local community so that comprehensive care can be provided.

The focal point of modern mental health services is the community and the community based service. A Vision for Change recommends a total of 50 acute beds per 300,000 population.

The HSE has for the past number of years been working towards the closure of the St. Finan's Mental Health Hospital and the provision of alternative modern state-of-the-art mental health facilities and other general primary care facilities for the population of Killarney and east Kerry. A range of mental health facilities and community services are being proposed as a replacement of the hospital as follows: Replacement facilities for current services provided in St. Finan's Hospital - 25 place later life challenging behaviour services to accommodate the current patient complement - this unit will become a dementia specific unit for the local health office in the future when the current population declines; 15 place interim low secure facility to accommodate the current patient complement - initially this unit will operate as a rehabilitation unit for current patients located in two secure wards; ten place community residence to accommodate the remaining patient population in St. Finan's Hospital.

A redesign of the existing acute psychiatric unit in Kerry General Hospital is also proposed, to provide a four bed, close observation unit in order to appropriately manage patients within the acute unit.

The proposals as outlined will be funded from the proceeds of the sale of mental health lands. The 2010 budget provided for a multi-annual programme of capital investment in high priority mental health projects consistent with A Vision for Change. In 2010 the HSE will proceed to dispose of surplus assets and reinvest an initial sum of €43 million in the mental health capital programme. Provision for continued funding of the programme will be made in the 2011 Estimates and subsequent years, in the light of the previous year's programme of asset sales.

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