John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

In June 2010, the Mental Health Commission attached conditions to the registration of St. Brendan's, St. Ita's and St. Senan's Hospitals which, inter alia, require that new acute admissions to St. Brendan's cease in September 2010 and those to St. Ita's and St. Senan's cease in February 2011. I am glad to be able to report progress on this.

The HSE opened a second unit in the department of psychiatry at Connolly Hospital on 6 September last and all acute psychiatric admissions from the Cabra and Finglas areas were transferred to the new unit from that date. Acute admissions to St. Brendan's have now ceased - for the first time, it is worth noting, since 1815. The building of replacement long-stay mental health facilities, which was recently announced as part of the Grangegorman redevelopment project, is due to begin this year; the new 54-bed unit will be completed by mid-2012.

Three old-age psychiatric wards in St. Ita's Hospital are scheduled to close by the end of the year; these will be relocated to a newly refurbished purpose-built unit elsewhere on St. Ita's campus. It is also planned to discharge approximately ten patients to suitable nursing home or continuing care facilities. Plans for the transfer of acute inpatient admissions from St. Ita's to a new purpose-built unit on Beaumont Hospital campus are proceeding. Construction work is expected to begin in February 2011 and will take approximately 18 months. The HSE is considering alternatives to acute admission to St. Ita's that can be established pending full commissioning of the Beaumont facility.

With regard to St. Senan's, the HSE is committed to the closure of all old psychiatric facilities in the HSE south area. Significant steps have already been taken in Wexford, including a reduction in the number of beds from 170 in 2005 to 85 at present. Four capital development projects are under way which will enable the complete closure of all non-acute wards in the hospital by early 2012. There is sufficient capacity in Waterford Regional Hospital to serve the acute admission needs of the extended Waterford-Wexford catchment area, in line with the recommendations of A Vision for Change. However, before acute admissions can be transferred from St. Senan's, community-based services will need to be further developed in both Wexford and Waterford to provide alternative treatment options and reduce dependence on acute beds. Such developments include the provision of a day hospital service and crisis houses. The HSE expects to finalise an integrated development plan for the expanded catchment area shortly.

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