The HSE is to spend over €1 million on reducing the risk of patients self-harming or trying to take their own lives at a mental health facility that has had its capacity reduced by 40 per cent by the Mental Health Commission (MHC).
Solicitor for the HSE, Catherine Kelleher, told Judge James McNulty at Bantry District Court on Wednesday that the HSE is planning to spend between €1.2 and €1.5 million on eliminating “ligature risk” at the Bantry Centre for Mental Health Care and Recovery.
Ms Kelleher outlined the HSE improvement plan during a preliminary hearing in which the HSE is appealing against a decision by the MHC to reduce the capacity at the Bantry facility from 18 beds to 11 beds because of concerns over patient safety.
Under Section 65 of the Mental Health Act 2001, the proprietor of an approved centre may appeal in court against a decision of the MHC to refuse to register the centre, to remove the centre from the register or to attach a condition, or to amend or revoke a condition attached to registration.
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In August, the MHC made it a condition of Bantry Centre for Mental Health Care and Recovery’s registration as a mental health facility that it reduce capacity from 18 beds to 11 beds. The decision followed an inspection. It has yet to be published but it is believed the decision to reduce capacity stemmed from concerns about the ability of staff to supervise 18 patients in a three-storey building with several ligature risks and an open stairwell.
In an earlier report from 2021, MHC inspectors found 85 per cent compliance with regulations, rules and codes of practice set out in the Mental Health Act 2001, but they did note “the structure of the approved centre posed significant risk to residents by the presence of ligature anchor points”.
The inspectors also found the approved centre was “too small and cramped to provide care that respected residents’ dignity” and noted that residents did not have access to appropriately sized bedrooms, particularly the eight patients who were staying in two four-bedded rooms.
The facility, which opened in 1996 and is co-located on the grounds of Bantry General Hospital, is the only acute in-patient mental health centre in West Cork and caters for adult admissions from Bantry, Skibbereen, Dunmanway and Clonakilty and the Beara Peninsula.
According to the HSE, the centre is staffed by four nurses by day and three at night while there are also two multitask attendants while therapeutic inputs are also available from other health professionals such as occupational therapists.
Last month, Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard raised the issue of the reduction in bed capacity at the centre in the Seanad with Minister of State at the Department of Health Mary Butler saying that a reduction of 40 per cent was “a very significant issue for the entire region”.
Minister Butler said reducing the number of beds from 18 to 11 was “a massive reduction” but noted the Government had “a responsibility to ensure the provision of high-quality mental health services that are fit for purpose”.
“At present, there is capacity for 18 residents in the centre. As I have said, many of the residents have acute and enduring mental illness. The centre is their home from home. It is very important that we, and I as Minister of State, make sure there is capacity in specific areas for mental illness.”
On Wednesday Judge James McNulty adjourned the matter until January 12.
