Mental health services at risk as 1,000 nurses due to retire

MENTAL health services will be “impossible to maintain” if the HSE’s own analysis of staffing levels is borne out and a further 1,000 nurses leave their jobs this year, documents have revealed.

Already at breaking point with the loss of 1,500 nursing staff over the last three years, internal HSE documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the extent of the crisis and the difficulties HSE management faced to secure an exemption of 100 posts from the Department of Finance.

In April this year, assistant national director of mental health in the HSE, Martin Rogan, wrote to regional directors of operations revealing concerns that a further 1,000 psychiatric nurses are expected to retire this year.