Inspector 'ashamed' of mental hospitals
Dr Dermot Walsh said that just this week he saw patients enduring clanking floorboards, locked doors and having nothing to do but shuffle around.
He was speaking at the launch of a report revealing how the State has frittered away millions from old-style psychiatric hospitals and valuable lands, while failing to live up to its pledge to re-invest the funds for the benefit of patients.
Dr Walsh, who co-authored the report with psychiatrists Dr Siobhan Barry and Dr Justin Brophy, said he had experienced many "emotional cadences" since he started work in the psychiatric service 50 years ago.
Inpatients
New psychiatric units provide high-class facilities, such as those in Kilkenny and Portlaoise, but half the country's psychiatric inpatients are still in old-style institutions, he added.
And he admitted he is "tremulous and fearful" that the pledges made to re-invest the proceeds of the sale of psychiatric hospitals and lands will not happen in the years to come.
"We have let patients, and ourselves, down", he added.
The report, called 'Lie of the Land', revealed how the State has squandered millions that could be generated for mental health services from these assets.
Instead, various hospitals have ended up being refurbished for offices, sold at below market price, while land has been given away to other government departments or turned in some cases into a pitch-and-putt course or private car park.
Dr Justin Brophy said the state of mental health services had worsened since the launch of 'Vision for Change' two years ago -- the blueprint which was supposed to transform care.
Watchdog
The Government was also strongly criticised by the state watchdog, the Mental Health Commission. Chairman Dr Edmond O' Dea said: "We warmly welcomed the decision by the Government to adopt 'A Vision for Change' as its official policy on mental health services.
"However, it is now two years since that announcement, and we have still not seen any signs that the HSE is implementing what is official government policy."
He pointed out the HSE official service plan for 2008 does not contain any target for implementation of 'Vision for Change'.
Resources allocated for mental health services have also been diverted to other areas of the health service, he added.
Sean McNulty, assistant director of the mental health division in the HSE, said yesterday that they were prioritising additional beds for children and adolescents this year.
The three psychiatrists warned, however, that there is no transparency about the funding generated from redundant psychiatric hospitals and lands.
