Elderly patients at risk, warns expert

A SENIOR medic at one of the country’s oldest psychiatric units says he does not want to see any more elderly patients die in such draconian conditions.

Clinical Director for the Limerick Mental Health Services, Dr Peter Kirwan, has expressed concern over the prolonged delay in transferring 38 elderly patients from a former workhouse building at St Joseph’s Hospital, Limerick, to more suitable conditions in a €2.5 million community residence.

Dr Kirwan, a consultant psychiatrist, said as clinical director, his main concern is that the elderly infirm patients in St Joseph’s obtain the best quality of care available.