MENTAL health chiefs
have warned against closing St. Conal's Hospital in
Letterkenny without adequate resources to replace it
with a comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery
service for patients.
The warning comes in the Mental Health Commission's
annual report which reveals that St. Conal's was
compliant with the regulations, rules and codes of
practice in 19 areas but non-compliant in 10 areas
at the time of an inspection on August 7, last year.
Donegal has a 42-bed admission unit attached to
Letterkenny General Hospital and two long-stay wards
in St. Conal’s Hospital, namely St. Bernadette's
Ward for female patients and St. Ciaran's Ward for
males.
At the time of the inspection last year, there were
15 men and six women residents.
Assistant inspector of Mental Health Services, Dr
Susan Finnerty summarised the report’s findings on
Donegal.
She said: “Donegal Mental Health Services is an
enthusiastic service with service user involvement.
There was a commitment to close St. Conal’s Hospital
and to introduce a comprehensive rehabilitation
service with an emphasis on recovery. However,
without adequate resources it will be difficult for
this service to progress to meet the needs of the
service users.”
The annual report also confirmed that St. Conal's
Hospital does not use ECT shock treatment,
mechanical restraint equipment or seclusion in
accordance with the Mental Health Act.
The report, published on Friday, also reveals that
St. Conal's Hospital in Letterkenny failed to
provide the commission with a record of any
complaints made last year.
It does acknowledge, however, that the HSE
complaints policy was in use at the hospital.
Among the hospital's 19 areas of compliance were
food and nutrition; clothing for patients;
recreational activity for patients and patients'
access to phones. Included among the 10 areas of
non-compliance were failure to provide inspectors
with a record of complaints; failure to provide
inspectors with the register of residents; the
required six-monthly physical health check-ups were
not being done even on an annual basis and no
available written policy on the transfer of
residents. |
