‘Lives lost’ as mental health funds suffer cuts

Lives are being lost on a daily basis due to under-funding and under-staffing in the mental health services, the head of Kerry’s Psychiatric Nurses Association has warned.

Cormac Williams noted that when one consultant obstetrician warns maternity services are under threat because of midwives retiring there is outrage, but it is not so easy to highlight the plight of people with mental health problems.

Mr Williams, who has written to President Michael D Higgins on the issue, said the most disturbing aspect of all the cutbacks in the mental health service was that they were happening when incidents of suicide were at an all-time high.

Mr Williams said: “Voluntary groups are manning the river banks on the Shannon in the Limerick area at night, the Samaritans have put a watch on the Cliffs of Moher and a councillor has asked that barriers are put in place at the quay side in Bray to stop people driving into the sea. The need for a functioning mental health service was never as great at a time when cutbacks and retirements are at an all-time high.

“In any health issue, early intervention, treatment, and support is the key to a successful recovery. For someone with mental health issues the riverbank, cliff top or shoreline is not the place to offer comfort and support. Intervention should be a much earlier stage.”

Mr Williams said Kerry has lost about 80 nursing posts over the past three years, and by March 1 more personnel will have retired.

PNA representative for the West of Ireland, Noel Giblin, said Mayo was also down about 80 staff. He said that clients of mental health services in Mayo were being removed from community settings and placed back into a hospital unit, which is becoming overcrowded.

Mr Giblin claimed that the unit in Castlebar was becoming particularly crowded and that an oratory and an old smoking room had been converted into wards.

He said respite beds were being closed, and this meant that when families got into distress, the only option was to have people readmitted into hospital.

The HSE said no decisions had been made yet in relation to service closures.

“Given the challenging financial times that we are in, managers are working to provide the maximum service possible with a reduced budget and staff numbers,” a spokesperson said.

Lobby group Mental Health Reform said although the sector had received €35m in the last budget, the overall spent from 2011 to 2012 was actually down €5m, falling from €712m last year to €707m this year.

“The proportion of mental health spending within the HSE budget has remained the same, which exemplifies how mental health has not done better than other services, but rather has received deeper cuts to compensate for the additional €35m.”

The group’s director, Orla Barry, called for the immediate publication of plans being drawn up on how the HSE was going to cope with ongoing cuts to services with fewer staff.