Security for two patients costs HSE €2,500 a week

HEALTH BRIEFING:THE HSE West has defended a decision to employ extra security staff to guard two patients in two public hospitals at a cost of €2,500 a week.

The contract staff have been employed for 84 hours a week at University Hospital Galway (UHG) and Merlin Park Hospital. The deployment is additional to HSE West's regular security budget.

HSE West regional forum chairman Cllr Padraig Conneely (FG) has expressed concern at the expenditure and has pledged to raise it at forum level. He has questioned why private security firms are contracted at all when the HSE has its own "inhouse" security.

The arrangement at the hospitals is said to have caused "disquiet" among health staff at a time of severe pressure within hospitals.

On one day last week there were 50 patients on trolleys at UHG's emergency department.

Neither of the two patients under guard is said to have a contagious disease or pose a threat to others, according to the Galway City Tribune.

In a statement, HSE West said there were "many aspects to the care that is provided to patients in our hospitals. In a small number of cases, this care includes the provision of security personnel.

"Sometimes patients have behavioural disturbances due to their illness, which will not respond to medication or where management with medication would be inappropriate or dangerous."

The services of contract security staff were only retained "when all other possibilities have been exhausted", the HSE West said.