Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Morrissey for raising this matter on the Adjournment. One of the objectives under the programme for Government, An Action Programme for the Millennium, is to improve mental health services. Advancement in the standards of care for psychiatric patients remains at the heart of developing and improving psychiatric services, as set out in the report, Planning for the Future, published in 1984.

The thrust of this report recommended the establishment of a comprehensive, community-oriented mental health service as an alternative to institutional care for persons with mental illness. The shift from a predominantly hospital-based service to a service delivered to patients in the community, with the least disruption to their daily lives, has taken place with significant improvements in standards of patient care.

Acute psychiatric in-patient services for area six of the Eastern Regional Health Authority are currently being delivered from unit nine at James Connolly Memorial Hospital, which has 22 beds. In his report for the year ended 31 December 2001, the Inspector of Mental Hospitals noted that this unit was unsuited for its purpose and that the shortcomings of the unit had resulted in unsatisfactory conditions for service users and considerable difficulties for staff working in the unit. The inspector also noted that the unit was structurally and decoratively poor with a temporary add-on structure providing bathroom facilities for female patients.

This unit will be replaced by a new psychiatric unit in the new hospital development which is currently nearing completion. Patients in unit nine will be relocated to the new unit, which will provide improved patient facilities and services. The new unit will be a 56-bed one comprising 44 acute psychiatric beds, six high observation beds and six psychiatry of old age beds. It is envisaged that patients from a 22-bed unit at St. Brendan's Hospital will also move to the new unit.

I am informed by the Northern Area Health Board that it is engaged in discussions with the staff in relation to this process and a snag list is being compiled and is to be discussed at a meeting to be held later this week. I understand that the transition programme to the new acute psychiatric unit is on schedule and a programme of handover dates is being followed. Working groups are working closely with the commissioning group and the project management team. This is the process which has been put in place to ensure the smooth transition from the old hospital to the new buildings. All matters which need attention, including matters relating to the psychiatric unit, are being dealt with within this process.