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

I will be taking this matter on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Daly, and I will bring to his attention the Deputies' disappointment that he could not be here. I do not know where he is.

I thank each of the Deputies for raising this very important issue. The Department of Health is aware of the issue and officials in the mental health unit have been in constant communication with the HSE to monitor the situation. The 44-bed department of psychiatry is the designated approved centre for acute inpatient services for the counties of Waterford and Wexford, serving a catchment area of 265,000. It is acknowledged that the acute bed numbers in Waterford are below the national average and there can, at times, be issues of over-capacity. Over the October bank holiday weekend, unprecedented demand on the service put significant pressures on the department of psychiatry in Waterford. This included ten involuntary referrals. By comparison, there were 21 in the entire previous quarter.

The department of psychiatry in Waterford too immediate steps to address the over-capacity issue, including using acute beds in alternative HSE areas, private placements and specialist rehabilitation beds in long-stay centres. There are currently 43 patients in the department of psychiatry at University Hospital Waterford and considerable efforts are ongoing to manage the demand on the service and where appropriate, discharge planning to community mental health teams and facilities.

Regarding the allegations made by an employee in the media, I assure all the Deputies that the Department takes patient safety and health care very seriously. In that context, the mental health unit has asked the HSE to investigate these allegations and report back. The HSE has assured the Department that the situation is being constantly monitored by both local and national mental health service management and the new clinical director for the department of psychiatry, who started this week, is expected to further assist in overall clinical management.

The HSE, in conjunction with University Hospital Waterford, is in the process of reviewing the existing department of psychiatry to assess long-term options to increase capacity. They will keep the Department of Health informed of any developments in this regard. The Minister of State, Deputy Daly, will also be meeting Deputy Browne next week to discuss this issue. A total of €39 million has been added to the mental health budget for 2020, increasing the annual allocation to €1.026 billion. This represents an increase of over €315 million since 2012. This funding will help in the continued improvement and development of mental health services. Funding alone is not enough. We also need to consider how we deliver services and how we can reduce demand for the specialist mental health services. In this regard, the HSE is introducing a number of digital mental health initiatives that are being driven by the Department of Health. These include telecounselling and telepsychiatry reports.

A pilot has been undertaken in the Wexford-Waterford region and will provide remote psychiatric consultations for the child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS. Greater use of the technology available to us will help to deliver services at as early a stage as possible and will help to ensure that mild mental health issues are dealt with before they become more serious. These initiatives exemplify the serious intent of the Government to progress and improve mental health services not just in Waterford but throughout Ireland.

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