John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting the Topical Issue on Maryville health centre, a five-day hospital service for 60 to 70 patients in New Ross and surrounding areas.

Recently a psychiatric nurse was transferred from Maryville to another centre without a replacement, causing much concern to the patients attending the centre. A Vision for Change which was implemented in Wexford, as it was across the country, outlined the provision of a better service for people with mental health issues, including depression. A nurse who had been in Maryville for a number of years and was a key contact for the 60 to 70 patients attending the centre is no longer there. She was their first and, in many cases, only contact owing to the lack of adequate services in the New Ross area. The patients are devastated by the decision, as they had built up trust in the nurse during the years. They had formed a bond and a relationship with her.

People with mental health difficulties, including depression, find it very difficult to relate to people and trust them. Now someone they trusted has been taken away from them and they are very concerned. A number of patients told me this nurse was a friend more than a nurse. She went above and beyond the call of duty to help patients at Maryville and to be there for them. The patients are devastated and many of them told me the centre was no longer relevant to them owing to the removal of the nurse. They want her to be returned to the New Ross area and Maryville as a matter of urgency.

I received a reply from the HSE recently which contained the usual gobbledygook about the importance of A Vision for Change. It referred to the services provided at Maryville, contrary to what the patients who attend there had said. It outlined details about staffing levels. A nurse is on maternity leave and a number of staff members have retired. In Wexford mental health services a number of other nurses are on maternity leave. The decision to move the nurse from New Ross to another centre in the county was robbing Peter to pay Paul and has left a bad taste for the patients in New Ross. Naturally they would prefer to see the return of the nurse who was there and had built up a bond of friendship. She had helped them to find jobs and be part of the community. She should be returned to New Ross as a matter of urgency. A Vision for Change never envisaged a person essential to one centre being transferred to another, leaving the centre from which he or she has come lacking the people needed to provide a service.

It is important that the nurse who left Maryville return. Some of the patients attending Maryville have sent me letters indicating that it is no longer of relevance to them because of the removal of the nurse. They are trying to develop their own group, New Me ~ New Ross, totally on a voluntary basis, without any financial support. They also claim that professionals come to Maryville and hold endless meetings, with nothing coming from them. They now want the services restored to them as a matter of urgency.

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