Sir, – Your Editorial on nursing home care (December 12th) struck a particular chord with the mental health professionals, service users and carers in South Tipperary who continue to fight to save their acute psychiatry admission unit in the face of governmental and HSE intransigence and selective deafness.
Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly’s quoted observation that “the provision of health services requires some genuine engagement with ordinary citizens” has special relevance to South Tipperary where the voice of the people has been comprehensively overlooked by HSE South which continues to railroad a development plan for psychiatry services without any attempt to survey the experience or wishes of those most directly affected, the service users and carers.
This cardinal failure comes alongside historic disregard and rejection of the views of frontline professionals by HSE management over a two-year period in which opposing advice has been repeatedly ignored.
At the heart of the HSE plan lies the closure of St Michael unit, a 29-bed facility on the grounds of the General Hospital in Clonmel. Transfer of these beds to Kilkenny, say the HSE, is recommended by both Vision for Change (government mental health policy) and by the Mental Health Commission. Both claims are simply untrue.
At a remarkable meeting in the Park Hotel in Clonmel on December 6th, almost 100 service users and their families found their voice and many spoke out to strongly condemn the HSE plans and to pay tribute to the service provided by St Michael’s. They then voted unanimously in a secret ballot to reject the HSE plans. Further public meetings were mooted, in addition to a delegation to meet Minister of State Kathleen Lynch.
Minister for Health James Reilly has publicly proclaimed his intention to put the patient at the centre of future health service development, and Vision for Change in its opening chapter declares that “equal value will be given to service users and carers opinions.” Judging by events in Abbeyleix and Clonmel, the people are beginning to demand deeds rather than fine words. – Yours, etc,