Members of the public are being urged to throw their weight behind a campaign demanding the establishment of a 24-hour acute mental health service for Wexford after an emergency meeting was held in Enniscorthy last week.
A lobby group called “Wexford’s Fight for a 24/7 Acute Mental Health Service” called the meeting and invited local representatives to attend with a view to facilitating an in-depth discussion on concerns arising from the lack of acute care.
Organiser Colette Nolan in her address to the crowd gathered at the Bailey outlined that she was disappointed at the response she had received from the county’s five TDs, all of whom failed to attend.
“I am less than disappointed with our local TDs as none them have turned up. I received three apologies; one through illness. John Brown is not able to attend due to sickness. And two others said that they had prior engagements. Meanwhile, two TDs never responded at all to the invitation, which all in all is very frustrating as this issue is a very important and often brushed under the carpet topic,” said Ms Nolan.
She noted that a significant number of county councillors had, however, demonstrated their support for the campaign, but highlighted the need for the general public to become aware of the need for increased services.
“I would have liked to have seen more members of the public attend. But I realise that mental health is something that people don’t quite realise how important it is until it’s too late,” she said.
Ms Nolan, who lost her own brother to suicide in 2013, added that the consensus held by campaign’s volunteers is that suicide is at an epidemic level with County Wexford having the second highest rate in the country.
In 2006, the governmental policy “A Vision for Change” came on line, which outlined the closure of County Wexford’s acute unit. This was at the time housed in St. Senan’s Hospital, Enniscorthy.
This was amalgamated with the acute unit in Waterford Regional Hospital and an increased focus on community-based outpatient services was proposed.
Under this policy, 50 cute care beds were to be allocated per 300,000 people. With Waterford and Wexford having a combined population of just under that figure it was decided that the provision of 49 beds would be sufficient to service both counties.
44 of which are located in Waterford and 5 in Newcastle Hospital, which services only North Wexford.
Health professionals have repeatedly made calls for this figure to be increased as it is deemed dramatically insufficient to cope with the current need for mental health services.
At Wednesday night’s meeting the decision was taken to establish a committee to lobby the government for further supports in this area.
The committee members are Cllr David Hynes, Damien Godkin, Orla Curtis, Andy Kerrigan and Colette Nolan. The group will meet in the coming weeks to discuss its next move.