Security bill for patient heading for €1m

A VIOLENT and disturbed mental health patient has been under 24-hour guard at Ennis General Hospital at a cost of €1,000 a day for more than two years.

Two security personnel have been employed by day and by night to manage the man, in his late 30s, at the acute psychiatric unit since July 2008 because the HSE cannot find a suitable alternative.

The man, who was the victim of an assault in 1999 when he suffered a serious brain trauma after a concrete block was dropped on his head, requires 24-hour security.