Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)

I thank Senator Henry for giving me the opportunity to outline the position in respect of this issue.

Responsibility for the provision of mental health services at St. James's Hospital is a matter for the HSE eastern region and the HSE south-western area. According to figures supplied to my Department, the cost of the St. James's Hospital area 3 mental health service will be in excess of €9 million this year.

In area 3, the public mental health service is provided in partnership with St. Patrick's Hospital and St. James's Hospital on behalf of the HSE south-western area. The Dublin south city service caters for a population of 130,000 across two sectors, Camac, which serves the south inner city, and Owendoher, which serves the outer sector as far as Rathfarnham. This catchment includes significant areas of social deprivation.

Community mental health services are provided by St. Patrick's Hospital. Inpatient care is provided at the Jonathan Swift clinic at St. James's Hospital, which has 50 beds, including nine specialist beds for psychiatry of old age. This is in line with the bed ratio as recommended in the policy document, Planning for the Future. The Jonathan Swift clinic is a professorial unit and has well-developed academic links with Trinity College, Dublin. Many mental health services have had the benefit of a legacy budget associated with a large institutional base. This service, unfortunately, has not had this advantage and, as a result, all resources require additional allocation from the Exchequer.

A new community mental health centre was opened at St. Martha's on the South Circular Road in October 2002 and this facility provides a sector headquarters and day hospital for the Camac sector. This service has a number of high, medium and low support hostels for patients with continuing care needs and has been working closely with Dublin City Council to develop and acquire additional accommodation for rehabilitation clients. It is intended to create a day hospital and sector headquarters for the Owendoher sector and a site has been identified by the South-Western Area Health Board for this purpose. The service has four consultant-led teams and works in close collaboration with the specialist service of psychiatry of old age and liaison service — two consultant-led teams employed directly by St. James's Hospital. A new consultant-led team has been allocated to this service to cater for the needs of clients in the Drimnagh area.

I refer to capital funding. The Health Service Executive eastern region will invest proceeds from the sale of the lands at St. Loman's Hospital into the development of mental health services on the St. Loman's site and in other locations in the HSE south-western area. I assure the Deputy that the needs of mental health services in the south-western area have been communicated to the HSE in the annual service planning process and will be taken into consideration in the context of the future development of services in this area.