Written Answers. - Mental Handicap Services.
Proinsias De Rossa
Question:
53
Proinsias De Rossa
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the steps, if any, he intends to take to end the practice of keeping people with mental handicaps in psychiatric hospitals; the plans, if any, he has for the provision of more appropriate accommodation; the proposals, if any, there are for the future of St. Ita's Hospital, Portrane, County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[5700/98]
Joe Higgins
Question:
96
Mr. Higgins (Dublin West)
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the plans, if any, he has for emergency investment in St. Ita's Hospital, Portrane, County Dublin to rectify the neglect of that institution over many years.
[5812/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 53 and 96 together.
It is the policy of my Department that persons with a mental handicap inappropriately placed in psychiatric hospitals in the past should be relocated. Services to persons with a dual diagnosis of mental handicap and mental illness will continue to be provided for in a psychiatric setting. My Department, in conjunction with the health boards and voluntary organisations, has been engaged in an ongoing programme to transfer persons with a mental handicap from psychiatric hospitals and other unsuitable placements to more appropriate care settings. Since 1990 over 380 such persons have been transferred to more appropriate accommodation.
From 1994 to 1997 £1.26 million capital funding was provided to St. Ita's in order to upgrade existing facilities. Additional revenue funding of £0.99 million was also provided during this period in order to increase staffing levels, to provide multi-disciplinary support, to enhance services to persons with a mental handicap who are also behaviourally disturbed and to transfer persons to more appropriate accommodation.
The Eastern Health Board has submitted its development plan for the mental handicap services in St. Ita's Hospital. The funding of this plan is under discussion with officials of my Department for inclusion in the four year capital programme which I announced last December. The development plan provides for the transfer of between 120 and 150 clients to new residential services off-site and the provision of both new and upgraded residential services and day services for between 150 and 180 clients remaining on the St. Ita's campus.
As part of the implementation of this plan the process of moving 50 clients from St. Ita's to new residential services was initiated towards the end of last year. Some 30 of these clients are transferring to new services at the Hawthorn complex in Stillorgan. These transfers will enable units F, H and K in the hospital to close. Planning is now under way for the development of a further residential complex at Clonmethan Lodge, Oldtown, County Dublin which will accommodate 30 clients. When complete, this will allow for the closure of a further unit.
In the meantime a special maintenance programme has been established for the mental handicap services in the hospital and I have made £250,000 available for this programme in 1998. I regard the provision of new residential facilities on the St. Ita's campus as a priority in the continued development of the St. Ita's services.
I recently paid a visit to the hospital to view the facilities and services provided. I have also met the chief executive officer of the Eastern Health Board to discuss the development and the measures required to implement the remaining elements of the board's plan for the overall development of the campus. Following my visit to the hospital, the management agreed to submit proposals to me in respect of the most urgent needs for the development of the mental health facilities. These proposals were subsequently submitted to my Department and I have recently approved a capital grant of £550,000 for the upgrading of the Admission-Assessment Unit at St. Ita's Hospital.
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:
54
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the total projected number of residential and respite places for persons with disabilities now required as seen by his Department; the way in which these projections compare with figures prepared by carers and carers' associations; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[5832/98]
My Department published an Assessment of Need for Services for Persons with a Mental Handicap 1997-2001 in 1997 based on information from the national intellectual disability database. The assessment identified a requirement for 1,439 new residential-respite places and 1,036 new day places over the period in question. As outlined in both Partnership 2000 for Inclusion, Employment and Competitiveness and An Action Programme for the Millennium, the Government is committed to the ongoing development of services for persons with a mental handicap in line with the needs outlined in that assessment.
I met representatives the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland, NAMHI, on 21 October 1997 to discuss its pre-budget submission on projected service requirements. The projected figures quoted by NAMHI in its submission were taken from the assessment of need.
The report of the Review Group on Health and Personal Social Services for People with Physical and Sensory Disabilities — Towards and Independent Future — published in December 1996, recommended that there was an immediate need to provide an additional 100 residential places for people with disabilities, 200 places for persons with long-term disabilities requiring constant nursing care and 200 dedicated respite places.
In order to facilitate the proper planning and development of services in this area, the report recommended the establishment of co-ordinating committees in each health board and the establishment of a database on health service needs of persons with physical and sensory disabilities. The future development of residential-respite places will be carried out in consultation with these local co-ordinating committees. Such committees are being established in each health board. A pilot project on the database, involving three health boards, has recently been completed. Following the receipt and consideration of the report on this pilot project, the database development committee recommended in the review group will be established.
I have no knowledge of the projections of the number of residential-respite places required by people with physical and sensory disabilities as prepared by carers or carers' associations.
I was pleased to be able to allocate additional funding of £16 million in 1998 for services for persons with a mental handicap to continue the process of delivering the services identified in an Assessment of Need for Services for persons with a Mental Handicap 1997-2001. This includes capital funding of £5.25 million to start the major £30 million capital programme which I have put in place to run over four years in tandem with the assessment of need. A total of £8.4 million has been provided in 1998 for services for persons with physical and sensory disabilities. Of this, £3 million has been allocated for the development of services. Priorities for the allocation of this will be decided by the health boards in consultation with the local co-ordinating committees.
