Review at psych unit after patients go missing
The patients were among five people with perceived mental health difficulties who were subsequently reported missing to gardaí in Limerick since early May.
Three of the five missing people were patients in Unit 5B, a 45-bed acute psychiatric unit located on the grounds of University Hospital Limerick, but managed through the wider HSE community healthcare services.
It is understood two people reported as missing in the same period were waiting to be assessed for possible admission to the unit when they left the emergency department area of University Hospital Limerick and the alarm was raised.
All five were subsequently found safe; however in one incident in late May, gardaí had to break into a house near University Hospital Limerick after a man barricaded himself into it for several hours.
Senior HSE management held a meeting yesterday to discuss the recent instances, after which it was confirmed that procedures concerning one of the doors at Unit 5B is being reviewed.
Bernard Gloster, chief officer, community health Mid West, said he has met with clinical and management staff in the mental health services and Colette Cowan, CEO of the University of Limerick Hospital Group.
“In relation to the most recent concern regarding patients leaving or being absent from the unit, three such situations are known to have occurred between early May and early June,” he said.
“Following the most recent instances we are reviewing one particular aspect of our procedures in respect of one of the doors at the facility, but for operational reasons will not be commenting further on that.”
