Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It was with shock and horror that I learned over the weekend that the Mental Health Commission had recommended the closure of up to eight of the 14 acute mental health beds at University Hospital Waterford. Mental health services in Waterford and the south east are already greatly overstretched. Many people with mental health issues cannot access adequate treatment given that there are not enough acute beds in University Hospital Waterford. Now we have learned that we could lose up to eight beds. It is unacceptable and wrong.

The 14 acute beds in the psychiatric department covering Waterford, Wexford and part of the south east has a catchment area of approximately 300,000 people. The Mental Health Commission has recommended that up to eight of these beds close. The commission has taken the view given that it is concerned that the unit at University Hospital Waterford is overstretched and under-resourced. I am familiar with the unit. The staff are fantastic and work extremely hard under challenging circumstances. However, we cannot turn our backs on people who have mental health issues and who need acute care.

The Mental Health Commission said the unit was under-resourced and that additional resources were required. This must be remedied. The Minister of State must intervene and make funding available to help secure the 14 beds. It is unthinkable that there may be only six acute mental health beds to cover the population of 300,000 people in the entire south east. University Hospital Waterford is already desperately fighting for other services, such as 24-7 cardiac care. Waiting lists are at a record high. We cannot lose what we have. We cannot stand by and see these beds close.

This was a crisis waiting to happen and it is a direct result of the failure to fund and support mental health services properly. A number of outstanding issues with mental health services need to be resolved, such as the provision of a seven-day mental health support service in every catchment area throughout the country. The practice of admitting people suffering from mental health issues to emergency departments must end. Mental health spending is allocated year to year. It is obvious it is not working. We need a multiannual plan in order that our mental health services can be developed with certainty and we do not see a recurrence of this. The stress and trauma of people with mental health issues cannot be compounded by further bed closures. It is imperative that the message goes out loud and clear. We cannot lose even one bed in the psychiatric unit in Waterford, never mind eight.

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