Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is unfortunate the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, cannot be here but she was taken ill suddenly last night. She has been released from hospital and is at home.

The Government has been strongly committed to improving all aspects of mental health services since 2012.

4 o’clock

Approximately €140 million has been added to the HSE mental health budget, which now totals €851 million.

I will now turn to the provision of acute psychiatric care in counties Wexford and Waterford. The acute mental health unit at St. Senan's Hospital, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, was amalgamated with the Waterford mental health services in 2010. This now provides a 44-bed acute inpatient mental health unit at University Hospital Waterford. The department of psychiatry in University Hospital Waterford provides inpatient assessment, treatment and care to service users living in the Wexford area. Service users who live in north Wexford, who attend Tara House mental health services in Gorey and who require acute inpatient admission have access to Newcastle Hospital, Greystones, County Wicklow.

To ensure that each mental health facility is fit for purpose, the Mental Health Commission is charged with visiting and inspecting every approved mental health centre at least once a year. On 3 February 2017 the Mental Health Commission notified the HSE that following a number of inspections during 2016, it proposed that the department of psychiatry at University Hospital Waterford would be registered as an approved centre, with conditions. Primary among these conditions was that the number of beds be reduced. As Deputy Howlin stated, the HSE has until Friday, 24 February to make representations to the commission to either modify or remove those proposed conditions based on evidence that University Hospital Waterford is or will be compliant with the regulations to which the proposed conditions relate. The HSE intends to request that the commission does not, as a condition of registration, require it to reduce the number of beds in Waterford. Under section 64(6)(b)(iii) of the Mental Health Act 2001, the commission can specify the maximum number of residents in an approved centre or within an area of an approved centre. In this instance, that is proposed because in the view of the inspectors there is insufficient space for the total number of residents, there is a lack of dining, recreational and quiet spaces for residents and the previously proposed programme of works would not have addressed these issues. Taken together, these issues pose a risk to service user safety. The HSE will make representations to the commission before 24 February detailing how the HSE intends to address these issues, including a revised programme of works and associated timelines.

The HSE will outline how, on balance, a bed reduction is less safe for the service user population of the community health care organisation region CHO 5 than maintaining the current bed base, with the controls and improvement plans to be provided. Bearing in mind all the circumstances, I am confident that the HSE and University Hospital Waterford will resolve the issues raised by the commission. The Department will, however, continue to closely monitor the issues raised by the Mental Health Commission, in conjunction with the HSE, to ensure that the necessary corrective actions will be taken.

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