Mental health service cutbacks leading to suicides, nurses’ conference hears

Vulnerable patients are being discharged early or failing to secure a bed due to mental health service cutbacks, leading to suicide in some cases, the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association said yesterday.

At its annual conference yesterday, PNA chief executive Des Kavanagh warned that, due to the huge number of retirements among the profession, services were now “stretched to the limit”.

Mr Kavanagh said that on foot of the early retirement scheme introduced by the Government, psychiatric nurses were leaving “in droves”, with the result that services were curtailed or, in some cases, scrapped.