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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 13 Feb 1997

Vol. 474 No. 8

Adjournment Debate. - Clare Residential Accommodation.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to raise this matter and to have a senior Minister to respond. He has also welcomed Fianna Fáil legislation which was decried not so long ago.

I am sorry to have to raise this matter in the House, but I have raised it at every other possible level. I speak on behalf of a family which includes a mentally disturbed 37 year old male whose condition may even be psychotic. There are two other adults in the family, aged 31 and 32, who also need care. Their parents are in their 70s and unable to cope with the mentally disturbed male. He requires at the very least respite care for the sake of the parents. A place in Bawnmore Centre would be the ideal solution but that is currently not available.

At the moment, he is effectively being controlled by medication, but I am concerned that this may not be sufficient. His parents live in constant fear of what might happen. I understand that all places in Bawnmore are occupied and that this individual cannot be accommodated. However, the family do not want to have him permanently accommodated and would be satisfied if respite care were provided. There ought to be another location to which a person such as this could be sent. Although the staff at the local psychiatric hospital would say that his condition is not appropriate to their services or facilities, the health boards should make an exception in this case where the elderly parents are unable to cope and accommodate him for two or three weeks.

I am disappointed with the handling of the affair over the last two to three weeks. I have been in constant contact with the health board and the Minister's office. These people have effectively been abandoned with three mentally disturbed adults in the house, one of whom is behaving in such a manner that the elderly and frail parents are fearful. The parents feel that the State services have abandoned them and have asked me to pursue on their behalf any avenue open to me. I am sorry it has come to the stage that I must raise it in the House, but it is a serious matter and warrants a much stronger response from the State than we have had heretofore.

I am taking this reply on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy O'Shea. The provision of services to persons with a mental handicap in County Clare is a matter, in the first instance, for the Mid-Western Health Board.

I understand from my colleague, the Minister of State, that the Mid-Western Health Board informed his Department that the person concerned has been assessed as functioning within the moderate mental handicap range and he also has a communication disability. Both he and his brother attended the Brothers of Charity services approximately seven years ago for several months. Both men were offered places in the workshop again in 1996, but both declined to accept the placements.

Although the person concerned is currently living at home, the Minister of State understands from the board that his family have now indicated that they are seeking a day placement as distinct from a residential placement. He also understands from the board that the person concerned was assessed by the registrar in psychiatry this morning and that he is receiving appropriate medication for his condition. The board is hopeful that he will be able to avail of a day placement within a few weeks. It is intended that he will be placed in the Brothers of Charity day services as requested by the family. If it is subsequently found that he requires a residential place, appropriate arrangements will be made.

As the Deputy is aware, substantial additional funding has been made available in recent years for the development of services to persons with a mental handicap. Additional funding of £56.8 million was invested in the services in the period 1990-6 which has enabled health boards to put in place over 1,000 additional residential-respite places and 2,300 day care places. The Government is satisfied that this additional annual funding has made a significant impact on the number of persons with a mental handicap awaiting services. An additional £12 million is being made available for services to persons with a mental handicap in 1997 and £2 million is being used to meet identified needs in existing services. The remaining £10 million will be used to provide additional services in 1997 including new residential-respite services, new day care services and the continuation of the ongoing programme to transfer persons with a mental handicap from inappropriate care settings. The Minister of State is satisfied that this additional funding will again reduce the number of persons with a mental handicap awaiting services. However, he is aware that more needs to be done.

He has asked the Mid-Western Health Board to keep the Deputy informed of any further developments in the particular case.

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