Sir, – Questions are being asked about why Ballinasloe did not score as highly as Roscommon on the ability to respond to patients with life-threatening emergencies ("Bed battle rages on over Ballinasloe", Health + Family, February 25th).
While there is a 24-hour emergency department located in the town of Ballinasloe, the acute mental health in-patient beds are located a number of kilometres away. If a patient requires an emergency response an ambulance has to be called via the 999 system to respond to the emergency. This takes a minimum of 15–20 minutes (or longer if the ambulance is already responding to another emergency) at which stage the outcome for the patient would be seriously compromised. Roscommon County Hospital has a 24-hour medical response team on site, with medical staff who can respond within minutes if a patient has life-threatening injuries such as severe blood loss, overdose or compromised breathing.
The decision made by the clinical experts was reviewed by the HSE West regional director for performance and integration; it was subsequently reviewed by the national director for mental health services. An implementation team was established in autumn 2013 to plan the reconfiguration; Phase 1 of the Plan completed on January 20th with the transfer (not closure) of five beds to Galway University Hospital; Phase 2 completed on February 17th with the transfer of a further five beds and the implementation team is finalising Phase 3.
It was stated that Ballinasloe has the lowest rate of hospital admission in the HSE West region; almost half that of many other counties. This is a testament to the successful implementation of community services in the East Galway area and is proof positive that when you reconfigure resources from institutions to community front line services, admission rates to inpatient beds drop.
This reconfiguration is a major investment in mental health services in Galway and Roscommon; with an additional 44 permanent staff posts at a cost of €2.6 million. The reconfiguration is solely based on improving outcomes for patients. – Yours, etc,
Dr AMANDA BURKE,
Executive Clinical Director,
Galway Roscommon Mental
Health Services,
Child and Adolescent
Mental Health Services,
Merlin Park, Galway.