Mary Moran (Labour)

The psychiatrist eventually agreed to admit the girl to hospital but she was told she would have to wait at least four weeks before she could be admitted to a private psychiatric hospital. She was given an option of two hospitals. On a daily basis, the girl's parents and GP called both hospitals to plead for help but it took four weeks of numerous daily telephone calls to highlight their fears for her safety before she was admitted to a hospital in Dublin. The other psychiatric hospital only responded to the parents with an offer of a bed after 11 weeks. The attitude was she would have to wait. How can we tell someone who is suffering from a depressive illness that we do not have a bed? Do we ask the person to put off his or her suicidal thoughts for four weeks? It is atrocious.

This patient was treated at the highest level available but her family nevertheless saw a decline in her mental health. Before being admitted to the hospital, she was assured of intensive psychiatric care but this did not happen. This girl spent 11 weeks in a hospital in south Dublin but she was discharged in worse condition than when she was admitted. She was told to take the tablets and go away. She was given a further appointment after her discharge and her mother tried to meet the consultant on the day of discharge. They rang other wards twice but could not get to speak to a doctor. Eventually an outpatient appointment became necessary. When the girl attended the appointment, she was horrified to discover that it had been made with a separate doctor, whom she had never met in her 11 weeks in hospital. When her mother rang to asked if she could see the consultant who had treated her, she was told the consultant had not seen an inpatient as an outpatient for over 11 years, which is absolutely atrocious. We must provide for a follow-up and let the people with mental health issues who are suicidal or suffer from depression know that we care. They need somebody who believes in them rather than somebody to lecture them. If we are paying money for psychiatric services, why can there not be a follow-up with consultants providing treatment? It beggars belief that this does not happen.

A friend of mine took his own life four weeks ago. He had asked to be admitted to hospital to receive help and his family were also told there was a four to six week waiting period. He was eventually admitted to a psychiatric wing of a general hospital in my constituency. When a bed eventually became available in a psychiatric hospital, with the patient due to be transferred on a Friday morning, there was no doctor available to sign the release form to allow the patient to be transferred. His wife had to tell him he would be staying in the general hospital for the weekend as there was no one available to sign the release form. An hour later he had taken his own life, having felt scared and so alone in the hospital, feelings he had conveyed to his wife.

Such a case reiterates what I have argued for - that people should know somebody cares. This young man had a young family and had pleaded for help from the health system, as many have done. He was failed miserably. We must make A Vision for Change a much changed vision for the current system under which the most vulnerable suffer the most.

I will briefly mention that in my own child's school three 18-year old youths left and they had absolutely nowhere to go and their parents are totally distraught. If a youth leaves secondary school, there is always somebody available to help, but these children left the school without as much as a goodbye or graduation ceremony. There was no card or letter of good luck. We are working with the parents to put something in place. The system is unfair and the most vulnerable are suffering.

Recently I attended an excellent conference organised by the charity Save Our Sons and Daughters, SOSAD, which was founded by a Louth man whose son had committed suicide a few years before. At the conference it was mentioned that there had been 527 documented deaths by suicide in Ireland in 2009, although it is thought the figure is much higher because it does not take into account non-accidental drownings or road fatalities. In 2010 the figure rose to 700. The group was founded in Drogheda and has expanded across counties Louth, Meath and Cavan, although it receives calls from all over the country. One of the most important services provided by it is the listening service about which I spoke. As SOSAD is a charitable organisation which receives no public funds, I ask the Minister of State to consider assisting such groups which provide such an excellent service. To date, it has saved over 250 lives by providing a follow-up service.