asked the Minister for Health (a) if he will indicate how many patients are fit to leave St. Brendan's Hospital, Upper Grangegorman, Dublin 7, but who cannot because they have nowhere to go e.g., half-way houses; (b) how many half-way houses there are; (c) the number of people who are employed in therapy programmes apart from doctors; and (d) how people who do not go to therapy occupy themselves.
Written Answers. - Dublin Hospital Patients.
576.
There are about 100 long-stay patients in the hospital who could be accommodated in hostel facilities in the community.
There are at present six group homes and hostels with 68 places for persons from St. Brendan's Hospital catchment area. I am also at present examining proposals for the development of a further two hostels with 13 places within the catchment areas served by St. Brendan's Hospital.
Therapy programmes for patients within the hospital are carried out in the special industrial therapy unit and to a limited extent in the hospital wards depending on the needs and capabilities of the individuals concerned. There are five staff employed in the industrial therapy unit and there are 413 nurses employed on the wards of the hospital. There are in addition a further nine education staff, six of whom are seconded from the County Dublin Vocational Education Committee who provide an input to ward therapy programmes as part of their duties.
It is the health board's intention to expand the existing range of therapy programmes, particularly in the ward setting. This will be facilitated by the completion of certain adaptation works within the hospital in respect of which I have allocated capital funds. Included in these works will be the creation of a special rehabilitation unit in units 23 and 23A which will serve primarily as a special training area for patients prior to their discharge into hostel accommodation within the community.