Psychiatric nursing crisis as retirees not replaced
Cormac Williams, organiser of the Killarney and Kerry South branch of the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association (PNA), said 23 nurses who retired in the past year are not being replaced.
“This leaves a chronic shortage of nurses on the ground,” he claimed.
Mr Williams, who with other public service workers has been picketing clinics of Fianna Fáil TD John O’Donoghue in protest against cutbacks, further claimed 30 psychiatric nursing posts are to be transferred from HSE South to Dublin.
“The implications of this policy for the Kerry Mental Health Services (KMHS) and other areas of the western seaboard are extremely serious,” he said. “In Kerry, many areas of the services will have to be dismantled and abandoned if psychiatric nurses cannot be recruited to replace retiring staff.”
The HSE, however, said it was proactively addressing the issue – stating it was a manpower planning issue, with over 50% of staff nationally aged over 50.
Under a local strategy, the HSE had calculated the number of psychiatric nurses required in the future and it was equal to current staffing levels.
“In the immediate term, discussions have taken place between staff representatives and HSE nursing management locally to ameliorate the impact of nursing staff retirements,” a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, St Finan’s Psychiatric Hospital, in Killarney, is earmarked for closure within three years and is due to be replaced by modern facilities in the community.
It is expected the 19th century hospital building and an adjoining 30 acres will be sold on the private market.
However, Kerry politicians are demanding that all proceeds from the sale be spent on providing healthcare facilities in the county.
There are less than 100, mainly geriatric, patients at St Finan’s and acute psychiatric services have been provided at a unit in Kerry General Hospital, Tralee, for several years.
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