'If this is happening to my mother, it is everyone': Fears for patient safety at mental health unit

Mental Health Commission have inspectors downgraded the compliance rating of the centre to just 61% from 79% in 2020

The acute mental health unit is in the grounds of Cork University Hospital and under the responsibility of HSE South West. Picture: Dan Linehan

The daughter of an elderly patient in a Cork mental health unit has said she is fearful for her mother’s safety and was not surprised by a scathing report on it this week.

Susie Keane’s concerns comes as Mental Health Commission (MHC) inspectors downgraded the compliance rating of the centre to just 61% from 79% in 2020.

Her mother, aged 73, has fallen repeatedly on the ward, and on Tuesday had to get two stitches after falling again.

“When I read the report, I felt less alone, I felt this is not just a poor service that my mother is experiencing,” said Ms Keane.

“People need to know, I feel if this is happening to my mother, it is everyone. And not everyone has an advocate acting for them.”

“The whole time I’m just thinking, Is she going to have another fall, is she going to fall again?”

The family is aware of four falls since she was admitted in late February.

“When she does fall, that sets her back because she gets moved from the mental health unit to the regular hospital which has to be by ambulance,” she said.

“That’s usually at night so she’s set back because she is so disorientated when she comes back.”

Ms Keane has written to the clinical director at the unit, and complained through the HSE’s Your Service Your Say.

She raised her fears with local TDs and Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

Ms Keane is aware her mother is at risk of falling due to her condition and age, but feels more should be done to protect her.

“When I complain to [staff] ‘my mother keeps falling, what are the safety measures here’? suddenly they do more,” she said.

The worried daughter praised “wonderful” nurses there, despite the pressures. 

'Completely understaffed'

She said it is obvious the unit is “completely understaffed” for nurses, therapists and consultants.

The family has supported her mother with lifelong mental health challenges.

“I’m not fresh dealing with the services, the current situation there is not like I’ve ever, ever seen it,” said Ms Keane.

Her hope now is her “funny, intelligent, lovely” mother can return home to her crosswords and Emmerdale when this crisis is treated.

I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know if my mother is getting the best care she can or the level of care she deserves, but this feels wrong.

“She is falling all the time, she is up in a ward. It just feels wrong.”

The unit recently hit its 10-year anniversary.

A report in the Irish Examiner in January 2015 described the “new state-of-the-art mental health unit” in positive detail.

One manager said then: “We are delighted. There is an entirely different feel to this unit.”

However, this week the MHC warned about safety risks including falls and trip hazards.

Inspectors said the unit “was not kept in a good state of repair, externally or internally”. They found “staffing shortages across disciplines”.

The report also showed repeated interaction between the MHC and the unit on certain issues from 2023 to last year.

The acute mental health unit is in the grounds of Cork University Hospital and under the responsibility of HSE South West.

A spokeswoman said: “We take the observations contained in the reports seriously and are actively working with the MHC in progressing corrective action plans to ensure all requirements are met.”

This comes as the Psychiatric Nurses Association began industrial action on Wednesday around recruitment issues nationally in mental health services.