Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. He said there was no pressure in the unit at present. The difficulty is that beds are moved out of the ward when there is serious rain and are moved back in at other times due to pressures on the physical space to provide for the 45-bed capacity of the unit. On one occasion in the last number of months, men had to be accommodated in part of the women's ward because of pressure on bed numbers.

The Minister said the clinical director and the nurse managers conducted a daily assessment of the staffing requirements.

I am told by the nursing union there that, on one particular shift three weeks ago, of the eight staff on that floor, two were pregnant and the other six had no restraint training. Does the Minister believe that is a safe situation? Two weeks ago, there were two female staff managing the men's ward, one of whom was pregnant. There was a serious incident and the alarm had to be pressed. Patients who were "specials" had to be abandoned to respond to that emergency, and these specials require one-to-one support because they are either a risk to themselves or a risk to other patients in that unit.

We were told that most of the actions in the health and safety audit had been completed. Clearly, that is not the case in regard to the incidents I have raised. The leak problem in that facility is still there. Last year, we were promised that home-based treatment teams would be put in place, but that has not happened, and we need them immediately in Roscommon and Galway city. The 50-bed unit will take another 18 months to put in place. As an interim measure, will the Minister open the state-of-the-art St. Luke's unit in Ballinasloe to take pressure off University Hospital Galway pending the completion of that new 50-bed unit?

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