€4.5m and 35 jobs cut from Roscommon mental health service
The HSE has indicated that the number of staff working to provide mental health services in Roscommon was reduced by 35 -- and the budget for the service cut by €4.5m -- since 2009.
In recent weeks the Psychiatric Nurses Association and others have highlighted a “crisis” in psychiatric care in the Roscommon area.
The nurses said serious incidents in recent times - such as patients being turned away, assaults and the death of a patient by suicide - were linked to understaffing.
In response to questions from Curraghboy’s Cllr Tony Ward at last week’s meeting of the HSE West Regional Forum, the HSE said annual funding for mental health services in Roscommon stood at €15.9m in 2009, but had now been reduced to €11.4m.
Furthermore, the number of nursing posts in the service was reduced by 29, while the total staff in this area dropped from 217 to 182 during the same period.
The acute psychiatric unit in Roscommon is a 22-bedded unit which is currently treating 14 in-patients, the meeting heard.
Furthermore, the HSE said “the per capita spend on mental health services” in Roscommon was €220 per head of population, which was “significantly above the national average of €160” per head of population.
Cllr Ward said he had raised questions about Roscommon’s mental health services in response to concerns aired by staff, patients and their families at a public meeting held in the Abbey Hotel recently.
“As far as I’m concerned, the mental health services in Roscommon are being operated on a fire brigade basis - wherever the fire is burning we go to put it out,” Cllr Ward said.
He said the impression given by HSE management at the meeting last week was that “everything is fine and rosy” with the service but this simply wasn’t the case.
“Are the management trying to say that the staff members whose jobs have gone since 2009 were doing nothing, or that there was €4.5m too much in the budget in 2009?”
He said a member of staff had been injured two weeks ago and the facilities in Roscommon were totally unsuitable for one patient who had been transferred there.
“The resources that are needed are not there in areas like suicide prevention and addiction services, and services are grinding to a halt as a result.”
The Independent councillor said many of the nurses and other staff were concerned that a scarcity of resources could lead to a “major incident” in the future.
He added that John Hennessy, the HSE West Regional Director of Operations, had agreed to meet with staff members’ union officials and local representatives to discuss their concerns, but a date for that meeting had not yet been arranged.