Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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397. To ask the Minister for Health if he will re-open the acute psychiatric unit in Ballinasloe in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4361/16]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Government, despite financial pressures over recent years, has provided an additional €160mring-fenced funding since 2012 to develop mental health services in line with A Vision for Change(AVFC), and agreed Programme for Government commitments. Similar to elsewhere, Galway/Roscommon Mental Health Services are committed to full implementation of AVFC. Key to modernising services in line with current and future demand, and best international practice, is re-orientation from a hospital and bed-based focus to improved structures and processes for better community-based care. In the national context, the provision of acute in-patient beds in the Galway/Roscommon region is well within the recommendations set out in A Vision for Change, which states 50 beds per 300,000 population. This region has around 67 beds in total, for a population of some 315,000, and a further 5 beds will come on-stream in Galway with the opening of the new Acute Unit in early 2017.

Following the closure of St. Brigid’s, approximately €3m has been invested by the HSE to upgrade the Ballinasloe facility to ensure improved delivery of community-based services, including mental health care. The refurbishment was necessary also to meet relevant statutory building standards. In particular, the building is being used for Psychiatry of Later Life patients, Community Mental Health Teams and Mental Health Intellectual Disability services, as well as various other uses.

The HSE will continue to develop community based care, including mental health provision, at Ballinasloe while also developing regional acute in-patient care, in line with agreed service priorities and resource availability. It is not, therefore, intended to undertake the proposal raised by the Deputy.