The establishment of a centre of excellence for addiction services in east Galway is one of the recommendations of a new report which provides a blueprint for the development of mental health services in the area.
The Report of the Future Shape Group on the Development of Mental Health Services in east Galway also highlights the need for the provision of detoxification services at Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe and in outpatient settings.
Over the past 20 years, the service has undergone significant changes with the downsizing of St Brigid's Hospital, Ballinasloe, one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in the country at its peak, and the considerable development of community services.
The east-Galway mental health service covers Ballinasloe, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Tuam, Headford, Athenry, Portumna, Gort and parts of south Roscommon. It also receives a significant number of patient referrals from outside the catchment area, primarily from west-Galway.
At the end of 2003, there were 235 inpatients at St Brigid's compared to 1,300 in 1974. The majority of patients there today are long-stay patients who by virtue of their age, or other care needs, have been less easy to place in community residence.
The report recommends that the valuable assets of St Brigid's Hospital and its lands be realised and that those funds be reinvested in the provision of community-based services in east- Galway. It also recommends that the planning brief for the proposed psychiatric unit at Portiuncula Hospital be actively pursued with the Department of Health and that a suitable site for the unit be located on the campus.
The report highlights the need for child and adolescent mental health services in the western region to be provided with the resources necessary to enable them to treat referrals up to the age of 18 years.
It notes: "From the point of view of the east-Galway mental health service, the focus of unease lies in the fact that a number of 16- to 18-year-olds present to our service.
"Of greatest concern is the admission of a number of those to our acute adult psychiatric facility . . . They would be more appropriately cared for by specific adolescent services."
Currently, the east-Galway mental health service provides psychiatric inpatient detoxification at St Brigid's Hospital only. However, the report recommends that the majority of detoxification should take place in outpatient settings and services should also be available at Portiuncula and UCHG.
Following the controversial closure of the inpatient addiction treatment unit at St Brigid's last year, the report points out that residential services can now be purchased for the small number of cases that need it.
