HSE spent €6.5m on treating 39 mentally ill Irish people in Britain

MORE than €6.5 million was spent on treating 39 Irish people with mental illnesses in Britain over a three-year period from 2005.

The cost for care in overseas hospitals in 2007 came to €3.1m — almost half of the total bill — after the HSE sent 20 people to a range of facilities in Britain for treatment.

Dr Siobhán Barry, clinical director of the Cluain Mhuire Service in Blackrock, Co Dublin, and spokeswoman of the Irish Psychiatric Association, said the overseas bill for mental health care was because of a lack of services here and also reflective of an “unmet need”.