Costello visits St. Brendan's Hospital Grangegorman

15 December 2011

by Cllr Joe Costello

I visited St. Brendan's Mental Hospital this morning in the company of the Minister for Mental Health, Disability, and Older People, Kathleen Lynch T.D., to examine the circumstances in which five female patients were being moved from an open unit to a closed unit.

Senior staff outlined the staffing crisis that had arisen and explained the procedures followed to relocate the 12 patients who were previously accommodated in the "open" unit.

Seven had been moved to residences and hostels outside Grangegorman. It was decided that the remaining five long-term patients would be moved to the closed unit after consultation, and because movement outside of St. Brendan's would cause greater disruption. Moreover, the patients in the "open" unit were familiar with those in the closed unit.

In the meantime, two separate offers of accommodation have been received from external sources, and these are being examined. The commitment and concern of the staff was obvious.

However, it now appears that the crisis could have been avoided if the HSE had filled 100 new posts that had been approved by the Government for the mental health sector for 2011. Ten extra staff would have been sufficient to keep the "open" unit operational over the Christmas period and prevent the damaging and disruptive transfer of the five women to the closed unit.

I am calling on the HSE to begin immediately to fill the posts that have been approved so that this or a similar situation does not arise again. Secondly, I am calling on the HSE to ensure that advanced planning takes place in regards to the new state of the art mental health residential facility that is being constructed at present on the grounds of St. Brendan's. It is essential that adequate staffing be provided from the beginning and that the regular crises being experienced at present at St. Brendan's are avoided.