John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to place on record my disappointment that these services are not appropriately staffed with the qualified people who are necessary to deal with the numbers who are turning up for the services. I have seen that at first hand in Kilkenny. In the psychiatric services generally, we can see that there are patients there who have been inappropriately placed because there is no place else for them to go. The centre in Kilkenny city, which caters for a number of counties in the south east, has been overwhelmed by the numbers who turn up for care. When a person in this situation, who requires treatment, counselling and supports, is put on a waiting list, that does not work for them. Something is required for them in real time and that is not happening for them.

When we go down the line into the community services and beyond, we find there are a number of agencies, some HSE and some HSE-funded, that are cobbling together hours of care for patients who need 24-7 care or for children who have a difficulty with mental health issues. That is not good enough. The plan might look okay and appear fine on paper but I have attended many meetings with parents concerning their child or, in some cases, children with the HSE and I am always taken aback by the fact that those on the front line are making every effort, but the plans they are putting in place are unrealistic. The range of services required are not there. Like nurses in general hospitals, I am inclined to believe that for those in psychiatric hospitals or in the department of psychiatry in my area, who are under so much pressure that it not an attractive position any more. They could cope with their own workload but they are trying to respond to a demand from individuals and families they cannot just meet. They do not have the professional capacity to deal with it. It is desperate to see families struggle in circumstances like this and the ports of call, namely, the HSE or the professionals, are simply not there.

Something must be done to arrange appropriate care and to fund it. The only way to deal with it is in the context of acknowledging there is a problem in the workplace for those who are qualified and that there is a problem of under-capacity in terms of the qualified people who are necessary to deal with these issues. In Kilkenny alone one weekend, there were three suicides. There was another funeral today of a young man who died by suicide. All that can be traced back to their younger years and the fact they were neglected in some way as they went through the services. Some fell through the cracks and some did not get the service required. That is an awful reflection on the HSE and its management systems that do not deliver.

The community model of decongregation in some cases and community homes are all affected by this. They do no have the number of professionals required to deal with the cases they have. As a result, the individuals suffering from mental health issues are getting worse.

If they are not treated, they carry it on to the next phase of development of that issue and it becomes deeper and more difficult to deal with.

If we are making these representations to the HSE and drawing these cases to its attention, one would imagine that it would see the pressure that staff are under and the necessity of getting professionals in to make the job better and make a concentrated attempt to deliver the services to the doorstep of the person involved if necessary. In many cases of which I am aware - some of them involved inappropriate referrals to the department of psychiatry in Kilkenny - people turn up for services and are left on chairs and in beds in corridors waiting to be admitted. In two instances, while people were waiting to be admitted, they left the services and others had to be called in to carry out a search-and-rescue mission. That is not good enough. The type of services required to deal with this need to be put in place and available on demand. Unfortunately, that is the way it is with mental health. Will the Minister of State confirm the funding and also indicate how this issue is going to be addressed?

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