Unit for inspection after sex attack claim

The Mental Health Commission has confirmed that it is undertaking an un-announced inspection of a mental health unit in the west of Ireland where a serious sexual assault is alleged to have taken place.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) annual conference heard yesterday that there were concerns around patient and staff safety at the unit.

The serious assault allegation relates to two patients — one of whom is understood to have attempted a subsequent assault on a worker at the unit.

PNA general secretary Des Kavanagh said that they were calling for an “independent investigation” where nurses could come forward with any concerns they had about patient safety.

He said there was “no confidence in management” of the unit.

A spokesperson from the Mental Health Commission confirmed yesterday that an unannounced inspection is currently ongoing at the unit and that a report will be published “in due course”.

“It would be inappropriate for the commission to comment further on this at this time,” the spokesperson said.

Asked by the Irish Examiner if it was investigating the allegation, the HSE said in a statement that it “does not comment on individual cases or reviews”.

However, the statement added that the HSE “can confirm that it commenced a review into a reported issue; that review started in March 2015”.

In its initial response to the Irish Examiner, the HSE did not mention the review, only saying that it had “noted the comments from the PNA conference... and would call on the PNA to tell us of any incident that they are aware of that has not been reported to or reviewed by the HSE”.

Asked if it had only become aware of the allegation on foot of the PNA conference, the HSE revised its response to confirm it had commenced a review.

The HSE said any serious incident that is alleged to have taken place in any of the services “is fully investigated in line with the HSE serious incident management policy”.

Mr Kavanagh said he would be writing to Health Minister Leo Varadkar seeking an independent investigation.

The HSE said that staffing levels at all mental health services are reviewed on a regular basis to reflect the needs of the patients.

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