Autistic boy to be in adult unit for months

A 13-year-old Co Clare autistic boy currently being cared for at an adult psychiatric unit in Limerick may have to remain there for a number of months, his father said last night.

This emerged after a meeting in Limerick yesterday between the boys' parents and officials attached to a residential unit for autistic children to discuss the boy's future health needs

It also emerged yesterday that there are two other children under the age of 16 being cared for at Unit 5B, the adult psychiatric unit at Limerick's Mid-Western Regional Hospital - a practice which recently provoked severe criticism from the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, Dr Dermot Walsh.

Speaking after yesterday's meeting, the boy's father expressed his disappointment at the failure of the Mid-Western Health Board to provide the necessary information to the operators of the residential unit to determine if the 13- year- old was suited to be accommodated at the unit. On a previous occasion, the boy escaped from the unit.

The boy's father said: "Our son has been in Unit 5B for over five weeks now, and this is the least we would have expected from the health board in relation to assessing our son's future health needs.

"The people running the residential unit will now be given the information by the health board, and we will have a case conference to assess our son's needs in two weeks.

"This is just the beginning of the process, and it looks like that our son will remain in the Unit 5B for a number of months. It is not going to be weeks."

The Co Clare man said it was imperative that his son's needs were assessed before proper, secure accommodation was found.

The boy was admitted to Unit 5B on September 5th after an incident at the family home where he nearly stabbed his father with a steak knife.

The urgency to identify alternative accommodation for the boy has been heightened by criticism by Dr Walsh of the health board in continuing to admit children under the age of 16 to the adult psychiatric unit.

In his recently-published annual report, he recommended to the health board that in order to end what he called the "unacceptable practice of admitting children to Unit 5B", the health board should provide alternative accommodation for children on a regional basis.

Dr Walsh records that on his visit to Unit 5B, three children were being cared for in the unit. "This was a totally unacceptable situation and created problems both for the children and the staff."

A health board spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that three children under the age of 16 were yesterday being cared for at Unit 5B. Plans, however, were being drawn up by the health board for a new child and adolescent unit in the region.

The boy's father said last night: "He is getting great care in Unit 5B and I can't praise the well-trained, dedicated staff highly enough."

This week the boy returned to his Co Clare school accompanied daily by a male psychiatric nurse from Unit 5B.

His father said: "He got on great and will be going back next week for three days."