Vol. 542 No. 2
341 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on a situation whereby St. Brendan's psychiatric hospital, Dublin, has been forced to curtail emergency psychiatric admissions to its special care beds for disturbed patients due to staff and bed shortages with disturbed patients now having to be managed elsewhere. [24296/01]
I am aware of the difficulties that have arisen in relation to this matter and I have asked the Inspector of Mental Hospitals to investigate and to report back to my Department as soon as possible.
342 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps he is proposing to take to deal with the situation where over 40% of psychiatric patients are in hospital for more than five years. [24297/01]
More than half the patients who are in psychiatric hospitals longer than five years are over 65 years of age. As part of the Government's commitment to improving health services for older persons, the number of psychiatric teams specifically concerned with later life psychiatry has been increased in recent years. In 2001, £1.87 million – 2.37 million – is being provided towards the provision of additional consultants in old age psychiatry. Integration of community and hospital-based psychiatric services with geriatric medicine to provide comprehensive and appropriate packages for older people is progressing. Other steps being taken to improve services for this group of patients include rehabilitation, retraining and the reinstatement of life skills, de-designation of wards and transfer to more appropriate care settings.
With regard to the remaining group of long-stay patients, those under 65, each health board plans to transfer such patients to community-based or other alternative facilities appropriate to their needs as part of the modernisation of the mental health services.
343 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the extra resources he will allocate to the Southern Health Board to address the issues identified in a study (details supplied) on parasuicide. [24298/01]
I am aware of the study referred to by the Deputy and I recently launched Targeting Suicidal Behaviour which is a response by the Southern Health Board to the problem of suicide in its area.
In 2000, funding of £200,000 – 254,000 – was provided to the Southern Health Board and an additional £250,000 – 317,000 – has been provided this year towards suicide prevention initiatives in its area and the implementation of the recommendations of the task force on suicide. I have also made available £300,000 – 381,000 – over the past two years to the National Suicide Research Foundation towards the establishment of a parasuicide register. The additional resources required to continue the work in suicide prevention will be considered in the context of the overall determination of expenditure for the mental health services for 2002 and subsequent years.
