Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom gach rath a ghuí ar an Aire Stáit nua, Teachta Helen McEntee. Is mór an onóir di é a bheith ina hAire agus tá a fhios agam go mbeadh a hathair iontach bródúil aisti inniu.

I have three issues to raise with the Minister of State. My colleague, Deputy Ellis, has spoken very well about the macro issue in Ireland and I want to look specifically at some of the localised, micro issues with regard to mental health. I am the chair of the campaign to save Navan Hospital which held a meeting last Thursday night to discuss the closure of the 24/7 psychiatric unit in Navan. There is deep unease within the campaign about the closure of that unit. We understand there will be clinical and accommodation benefits and advantages to the new Drogheda unit but there is significant concern that there is not enough capacity within the region. One of the major difficulties is that despite having one of the highest levels of mental illness in Europe, Ireland has fewer adult psychiatric beds than most other European countries. There has been a sharp drop in the number of those beds in the five years of the Fine Gael Government. The closure of Navan and the move to Drogheda will only reduce the number of beds available in our region. We are also concerned that it will be difficult for people who live in places like Oldcastle, Kells, Athboy and Trim to get to Drogheda. Indeed, family and friends are very important to the support of persons receiving treatment but they will not be there because the public transport links to Drogheda are simply not good enough. On top of this, there are concerns that the Drogheda building to house the new unit has not been signed off as of yet and that the pathway for patients has not been properly created. Patients admitted to Navan's accident and emergency unit are an example. We have just heard the difficulties patients have had when admitted to accident and emergency of not getting to see the specialists with psychiatric experience that they need.

Due to health cuts, Meath has 33% less money for mental health services and this is going to be something which is very important for the Minister of State over the next five years. For every individual in County Meath, there is €104 spending on mental health services. That compares to a State average of €150 per person. This is not unique. Across a whole range of socio-economic areas, Meath is at the bottom of the funding list. That is because we have had a massive growth in population in the 1990s and the last decade. There are 80,000 new people living in the county but there has not been a major increase in funding to deal with that. That underfunding has a real human impact. I can give one example. There is a growing number of patients with schizophrenia in Meath who are being prescribed a drug called Clozaril to ameliorate their symptoms. This drug is usually prescribed at the end of a person's treatment - in other words, when all the other drugs and treatments have failed. It is a very strong, dangerous drug but in most cases, it allows patients to be able to live full and normal lives. However, the danger of the drug means there is a necessity for a specialised nurse to administer it. Due to cuts by the Minister of State's Government and the lack of funding in County Meath, there is no second nurse. The only nurse who is there is at complete capacity.

When I put the question to the HSE as to why it would not fund another person, it said it did not have the funding to do so. It cannot be clearer than that. This is a fool's errand. Patients who do not get the service in County Meath face extreme difficulties on a humanitarian level, as do their families, but some are then forced to spend their time in the 24/7 psychiatric units the Government is closing. There are three or four more patients being prescribed the drug every month. The cost of the patient receiving the drug and living a full life compared to the cost of keeping a patient in a 24/7 psychiatric unit is not comparable. It is a fool's errand. The lack of funding for a second specialised nurse is actually costing the Government more. I hope that in the next five years, the Minister of State will pay attention to that underfunding element we have in County Meath and ensure very quickly that we have a specialised nurse available in the county to administer this drug. I also hope she will stop the closure of the 25/7 psychiatric unit in Navan.

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