THE ADMISSION of patients with acute mental health problems to St Senan’s psychiatric hospital in Wexford will cease next February.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) said yesterday the move was on foot of a warning from the State’s mental health watchdog, the Mental Health Commission, that acute admissions to the Enniscorthy hospital must cease before the end of February 2011. It said it was now writing to the hospital’s staff and the families involved.
“The instruction from the Mental Health Commission relates to 26 acute beds only,” it said.The hospital has 85 beds in total, with the remainder occupied by long-stay patients. It is also envisaged that alternative accommodation will eventually be provided for these patients in a community setting.
In a statement, the HSE said: “The HSE would like to reassure current long term residents of St Senan’s Hospital and their families that the hospital will remain open until alternative accommodation has been provided.”
It added that the HSE is currently reviewing acute psychiatric bed capacity. “The HSE is currently finalising a plan for future mental health service provision in Wexford and Waterford. This plan is due for completion by June 2010,” it said.
It is understood St Senan’s was one of three HSE-run psychiatric hospitals which were warned recently by the Mental Health Commission they could face closure unless they provide detailed plans to improve conditions for residents forced to live in “inhuman” conditions. The others are understood to include St Loman’s hospital in Mullingar and St Ita’s in Portrane, Co Dublin.
These three were among the institutions most severely criticised by the Inspectorate of Mental Health Services during 2009.
A spokesman for the Mental Health Commission said one of its responsibilities was registering inpatient psychiatric facilities and it may attach conditions to the registration of a facility or remove a facility from the register. “To ensure that natural justice and fair proceedings are followed, the commission is not in a position to comment further at this time,” it said.