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

I apologise to Deputy Mattie McGrath on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, who cannot be here. I have been asked to take this matter on his behalf. I have taken notes because the initial issue submitted was so broad and the reply may not cover all of the matters to which the Deputy referred.

Mental health remains a priority care programme for Government. Since 2012, approximately €200 million, or 28%, has been added to the HSE mental health budget, which now totals over €910 million. This is a significant investment by any standard and the programme for partnership Government gives a clear commitment to increase our mental health budget annually as resources allow to expand and modernise all aspects of our services, including those in Tipperary. HSE mental health funding for Tipperary this year is in the region of €24 million. One of the strategic priorities for mental health in the HSE national service plan 2018 is to deliver timely, clinically effective and standardised safe mental health services in adherence to statutory requirements.

The provision of acute inpatient care to the adult population of north Tipperary, which is in community health organisation, CHO, 3, is provided between the acute unit in University Hospital Limerick, which has 50 beds, and the acute psychiatric unit in Ennis, which has 39 beds. The 44-bed department of psychiatry based in St Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny is the designated approved centre for acute inpatient services for south Tipperary, which is in CHO 5. This enables all acute inpatient admissions for the CHO area to be managed at a single site. Referrals to the department of psychiatry are through a consultant psychiatrist who makes the clinical decision to admit on the basis of the level of acute presentation or need. In addition to the department of psychiatry, there is a dedicated psychiatric liaison team operating from the emergency department at St. Luke's. All service users presenting to the emergency department who require psychiatric assessment will receive that assessment within agreed timeframes in line with the relevant department of psychiatry and emergency department guidelines. Onward referral pathways are agreed with all service users upon completion of psychiatric assessment in the emergency department. Pathways can include admission to an acute unit, referral to a relevant community mental health service team or referral back to a GP.

There is a range of other mental health services for adults in Tipperary. These include, for example, psychiatry of old age teams, non-acute beds, day hospitals and day centres, community mental health teams and high, medium or low support community residences. There are three CAMHS teams operating in Tipperary; one in north Tipperary and two in south Tipperary. The CAMHS acute units at Eist Linn in Cork, and Merlin Park in Galway, which has a total of 42 beds, serve the Tipperary catchment area.

The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, recently met with Oireachtas Members, and various local representatives, to discuss current and future provision of mental health services in Tipperary, including reviewing bed capacity. He also visited mental health facilities in south Tipperary in February last. Deputy Mattie McGrath can rest assured that the Minister of State will continue to closely monitor the development of all mental health services in Tipperary, particularly in the context of progressing new service developments agreed under the HSE service plan and through additional investment for mental health provided by Government. I will come back on other issues raised by Deputy Mattie McGrath.

See this speech in context