Closure of beds will ‘seriously impact the provision of mental health services’

THE closure of 16 beds at the Psychiatric Unit in St James Hospital will “seriously impact the provision of mental health services”, according to the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA).

Speaking this week, Peter Hughes, PNA General Secretary, said the planned closure of a 16-bed Sub-Acute Unit is “extremely worrying” considering it follows the “failure to re-open 11 beds” at Linn Dara Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit, in Cherry Orchard.

“The loss will have the knock-on effect of increasing demand for services in other parts of Dublin which will put further pressure on remaining services and staff,” warned Mr Hughes.

Hughes said the full extent of mental health nursing vacancies was revealed in the PNA national survey of late last year which found 700 psychiatric nursing staff vacancies in mental health services throughout the country.

TD Mark Ward, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Mental Health, called it another “body blow for mental health provision.”

“It comes on top of the decision to close 11 of the 23 inpatient beds at Linn Dara in May 2022 and despite Government promises they remain closed,” said Deputy Ward.

“The HSE and the Government must now come forward to target solutions and incentives to encourage the recruitment and retention of nurses.”

Meanwhile, Ward has called for an end to the “postcode lottery” of services for children attending the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) with over 4,300 children waiting on a first-time appointment.

He said it represents “huge discrepancies on how long a child has to wait based on where they live.”

There are now over 4,300 young people waiting on a first-time appointment with CAMHS. When this Government was formed in 2020 this list was at 2,115 children,” said Ward.

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