Mary Wallace
Question:62 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Health his views on the recommendations by the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities regarding St. Ita's Hospital, Portrane, County Dublin. [23840/96]
Written Answers. - Disabilities Report.
The report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities recommended that a special programme to replace substandard facilities for persons with disabilities should be urgently introduced and that this programme should be protected from normal competition for funding within the services generally. The commission made particular reference to St. Ita's, Portrane, because of the large number of persons with a mental handicap currently accommodated there.
My Department has been working closely with the Eastern Health Board to implement the proposals of the board as submitted in 1994 to transfer clients with a mental handicap to community settings, where appropriate, and to improve the accommodation and services available to those clients who need to be cared for in a more structured environment.
In the case of St. Ita's, capital funding amounting to £500,000 has been provided by my Department in the period 1993-95 for the upgrading of existing accommodation. A further capital grant of £250,000 was allocated in respect of refurbishment work in 1996. In the period 1993-95 revenue funding amounting to £265,000 has been provided to increase staffing levels, to provide multi-disciplinary support and to enhance services to persons with a mental handicap who are also behaviourally distrubed. Revenue funding of £280,000 and capital funding of £500,000 have also been provided in recent years to transfer persons of the hospital campus.
A sum of £2 million is also being made available over a two year period, £1 million of which was allocated in 1996, to provide additional residential facilities on the southside of Dublin city which will assist in the transfer of persons from St. Ita's hospital campus. The inspector of mental hospitals noted the enhancement of the overall appearance of clinical areas and also the improvement in staff morale in his 1995 report, the publication of which is imminent.
The national intellectual disability database is now providing my Department, the health boards and the voluntary mental handicap agencies with information on both the current and future needs of persons with a mental handicap over a five year period. This includes the needs of those who may require an alternative replacement. I would hope to continue the development of further services for persons with a mental handicap based on the needs identified by the database.