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A TEENAGER SPENT at least two weeks in an adult psychiatric ward in a room barely bigger than their bed, according to a letter sent to An Taoiseach’s office.
A HSE staff member said that the child had been sent to the adult psychiatric ward in the Department of Psychiatry of Waterford Regional Hospital for “fourteen nights and fourteen days”.
The staff member, consultant paediatric psychiatrist Kieran Moore, said that the patient’s room was “barely bigger than his/her bed” and that they have been “specialised 24-hours a day by a nurse who is sitting on a chair in the room or at the doorway”.
The letter, released to TheJournal.ie under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), continues:
The patient has no access to education. He/she has not been outside the hospital grounds for 14 days, there is no therapy occurring, no occupational therapy, no psychological intervention, no speech and language therapy, and no peer support or therapy.
Moore told TheJournal.ie that this wasn’t the first such case at the psychiatric ward.
“There’s no clinical governance structure in terms of what’s safe,” he said, suggesting that a look at the management structure – and the possible appointment of a ‘bed manager’ as one solution.
The psychiatrist’s letter was received by the Minister of State for Defence Paul Kehoe (who represents Wexford), and it was brought it to the attention of the Minister for Health and Older People Helen McEntee on the 17 January of this year.
Also on the letter’s mailing list was the Taoiseach’s office.
In her reply, also released in an FOI and dated 16 February, the Minister McEntee said that the admission of children to adult psychiatric wards does happen on occasion.
She said that Éist Linn, the child and adolescent unit in Cork City, accepts referrals for patients throughout Cork, Kerry and the South East.
“The HSE has indicated, that a bed became available in Éist Linn Monday 6 February and that the patient was transferred to that facility.”
The Psychiatric Nurses Association has said previously that there is only half the number of required staff at Waterford Regional Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry.
A lack of staff, and a shortage of beds have resulted in patients being placed on chairs and beds in corridors of the department due to a lack of capacity.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that a 16-year-old girl spent the night in a chair at the adult unit of Waterford Regional Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry as there were no beds available in either acute ward.
Although the department is only licensed to care for 44 patients, the unit is often over that number because of increased demand and referrals from the A&E unit at the main hospital.
The HSE has referred queries in relation to Waterford Regional Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry to the hospital. TheJournal.ie is awaiting a reply.
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good to see this crap taken off the streets. Tha gardai that do this type of work are the toughest bravest citizens in the state & no money could pay them to do it. They dont get enough of support.
They do a good job and get payed well for it.
Really? I suggest you go into the courts & see who they have to deal with before you consider their pay grade. I wouldnt or couldnt do their job.
Is your avator meant to be ironic
I don’t know enough to comment on how good or bad they are at their job. Fair play to them but nobody is forcing them to do it. It’s your opinion.
Great work get this dirty drug out of Ireland
Well done to the Gardai, they are doing a good job despite all the obstacles put in their way
Great find, that disgusting drug killed my sister, great to see such a big find and hopefully all involved wont see freedom for manys a year now.
Nidge won’t be happy!
Can I hit the red thumb twice for the love hate jokes? .. Please Journal
Hahahaha
@baz – ‘joke’ implies it was funny, it wasn’t
Nidge doesn’t joke!
Great capture, heroin is a scourge across all societies. Hopefully there won’t be any punishment attacks as a result of this seizure.
At least it’s more productive that all the recent cannabis seizures!
Do a lot of the seizures seem to be in the Kildare area?
Or am I just misremembering?
Celbridge is the Baltimore of Leinster.
Would you like some cake fathers, theres cocaine in it! Oh sorry its those what do you call its…RAISINS!
Careful, the joke police are patrolling…
Hate that, somebody’s gonna be pi$$ed !
About time they found something other than cannabis. There is a lot more of the sh*t on the street to Gardai, Win for you now but a lot more work to do!
I just can’t get that in such a small country there are quantities bigger than this latest find stashed all over the place and its hard to find? Surely its being managed by a small number of people, all of whom will be known to the gards and customs.
Gardai did well here but it is what they are paid to do…..
Not very well I’m afraid. The pay doesn’t reflect the dangers there exposed to. After all the cut over the last few yrs it’s worse than ever before. Gardai don’t get enough credit.
Does anyone know how much of the 35kg was heroin and how much was cocaine? I’m trying to figure out what the official Garda value of a gram of either of these drugs is.
have your say