James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health is not here. While I appreciate that he may have other places to be, it is too regular an occurrence that a relevant Minister or Minister of State is not here to answer these questions. I wish to raise the very important issue of overcrowding and neglect in the department of psychiatry in University Hospital Waterford, which serves patients from Waterford and Wexford. My colleague, Deputy Butler, also called for this special debate but she sends her apologies as she is in hospital for a minor procedure and could not be here. She has been very strong on this issue.

We recently heard very harrowing accounts from patients and families of those who have attended the department of psychiatry there, Shauna Aylward on WLR FM and Ray Shannon on South East Radio and many on 'Liveline' on RTE. We have heard accounts of overcrowding, people being over-medicated and over-stretched staff that are totally unacceptable. There are stories of 24 patients in a 14-bed ward, patients on chairs and on floors. I have raised this issue several times in the past. I have asked the HSE how many patients are being kept on chairs and on floors and I have been informed that it does not keep an account of that, which is also unacceptable. A hospital should be a place of comfort, care and recovery. Instead, the patients are in a state of fear and neglect, and staff are overstretched.

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