Bill for one psychiatric patient tops €1 million

THE BILL FOR providing 24-hour security for one male patient at the acute psychiatric unit at Ennis General Hospital has exceeded €1 million.

Since July 2008, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has been spending €1,000 per day on providing security for the 37-year-old Ennis man. In the two-and-a-half years to the end of last December, it had spent €908,000: €366,625 last year, €378,175 in 2009 and €163,247 in 2008. The spend exceeded the €1 million mark last week.

The man in question was the victim of an assault in 1999, suffering a serious brain trauma after a concrete block was dropped on his head. As a result, his left-hand frontal lobe was wasted.

The general secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA), Des Kavanagh, said yesterday: “This money is being spent because of the HSE’s failure to put in place a proper secure unit for the west of Ireland . . . No one could say it is appropriate that the man is being treated in the acute unit. The unit is only suitable for people in the acute phase of their illness.”

He said the security spend must be resulting in cutbacks elsewhere in the Clare mental health service. “There are cutbacks all over the service,” he said.

HSE Regional Health Forum West member and Green Party councillor, Brian Meaney, said yesterday: “It is a significant cost and I would also be very concerned for the quality of life for the individual concerned.

“There should be proper facilities in place, because this level of security is tantamount to condemning the man to a prison sentence in unsuitable accommodation.”

A HSE statement last night read: “While the HSE does not comment on individual care issues, the clinical teams continually review clients’ needs and aim to provide care in the least restrictive environment possible.

“Clinical assessments are undertaken in respect of all residents/clients regularly to ensure that the care and treatment is appropriate to the presenting needs of the resident/client within existing resources.”