Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Daly, has asked me to convey his sincere apologies for not being able to take this Topical Issue debate as he is on official Government business in Finland.

The recent budget provided an additional €55 million to progress new developments in mental health this year, which brings overall HSE mental health funding to nearly €1 billion in 2019. This in turn will allow for continued improvements to all aspects of mental health care across the nine HSE Community Healthcare Organisations, including CHO3 and CHO5, which incorporate County Tipperary.

One of the strategic priorities for mental health in the HSE's national service plan for 2019 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 CHO3, 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 at St. Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny is the designated approved centre for acute inpatient services for south Tipperary, which is in CHO5. This enables all acute inpatient admissions for this CHO area to be managed at a single site.

Referrals to St. Luke’s are through a consultant psychiatrist who makes the clinical decision to admit based on 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 in 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 relevant 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 psychiatry of old age teams, non-acute beds, day hospitals and day centres. In addition, there are community mental health teams and high, medium and low support community residences.

In relation to those under 18, three CAMHS teams operate in Tipperary, with one in north Tipperary and two in south Tipperary. The CAMHS acute units at Éist Linn in Cork and Merlin Park University Hospital in Galway, which has a total of 42 beds, serve the Tipperary catchment area. The new permanent crisis house to replace Glenville House is included in the HSE’s capital programme for 2019 and is at the tendering phase. The Government is also funding a new Jigsaw service for the youth of Tipperary. A plan is now being put in place by Jigsaw with the aim of opening the new service in the early part of 2020. The Minister of State, Deputy Daly, is very aware of the challenges facing the mental health services in Tipperary. He has met Oireachtas members and various local representatives to discuss current and future provision of mental health services in Tipperary, on several occasions, most recently on 3 July 2019.

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