Children's Ombudsman condemns closure of beds for children with mental illness

Ombudsman for Children, Niall Muldoon: 'It is not acceptable that inpatient beds for children are to remain closed with no definite timeline on when they will reopen.' Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

The Ombudsman for Children has said it is “not acceptable” that the partial shutdown of the country’s largest inpatient facility for children with serious mental illnesses is continuing and with “no definite timeline” on reopening.

Niall Muldoon said the children who require the intervention of the Linn Dara unit in west Dublin were, in the majority of cases, those who are either “very sick or even suicidal”.

He said it was essential that they received that care “without delay”.

He was commenting on reports in the 'Irish Examiner' that the 11 beds that were closed at the specialist facility last May have not yet reopened, or started to reopen.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) said that they have been told by HSE that it will be some time in the new year before this will happen.

When the Government announced the sudden partial closure in May they said they expected reopening to commence last month. 

The closure of the 11 beds, the result of a recruitment and retention crisis, accounted for almost half of the 24 beds at the centre.

Linn Dara covers not only most of Dublin, but also Kildare, Wicklow, Laois, Offaly, Longford, and Westmeath. It provides multi-disciplinary care for children with severe mental illnesses, including eating disorders, schizophrenia, and depression, as well as for adolescents who have attempted suicide.

It was, until the bed closures, the busiest of four child and adolescent mental health units in the country, the others being in Galway, Cork, and North Dublin.

“It is not acceptable that inpatient beds for children are to remain closed with no definite timeline on when they will reopen,” said Dr Muldoon.

Children who require inpatient support are, in most cases, very sick or even suicidal, and it is essential that the care and support they need is available without delay.

He said recruitment and retention was an issue across the health service, but particularly in mental health, and said that this was impacting children.

“I have long called for a breakdown of the spend on mental health services for children and for ringfenced funding specifically allocated for children,” he said. 

“Failing these children now will have a knock-on effect on their future lives, and on demands on the health service.”

Last Friday, the PNA confirmed that the beds would not be coming back on stream in 2022.

“At a recent meeting with the HSE, PNA was informed that Linn Dara will not now open until the new year,” the association said in a statement. “This is extremely disappointing, particularly as PNA was given assurances that the centre would reopen in September.”

It said that the development confirmed the “growing pressures” the mental health services were under because of the “ongoing crisis” in the recruitment and retention of nurses.

The HSE said that, as recruitment was ongoing, it was “not possible to give a specific reopening date” for the 11 affected beds.

It said the intention was to return to “full capacity at the earliest opportunity”.