I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to respond to this matter which relates to the urgent need to provide additional psychiatric services in north Tipperary and specifically in the Nenagh area. A number of weeks ago I attended the inaugural public meeting of the Mental Health Association in north Tipperary. It was a good and worthwhile exercise and the objectives of the meeting were to bring people together and form a committee and also to lobby on two fronts. The first of these fronts is to create a more positive attitude to the whole issue of mental health because, undoubtedly, there has been a negative reaction to this area in the past. Mental illness has been considered a stigma for a family or an individual and this must change, particularly against the background of the rate of suicide in society. It behoves all Members to deal with this issue and to promote a positive approach to mental health.
Regarding the second front, at the meeting I undertook to raise in the Seanad the urgent need to address the level of psychiatric services for the population of north Tipperary. I hope the Minister of State will address at an early opportunity the fact that north Tipperary is still in the county structure in terms of the provision of services on the psychiatric front. This means that Nenagh must report to Clonmel; the centre of operations for the county is in Clonmel. As the Minister of State is aware, Nenagh is in north Tipperary and is part of the Mid-Western Health Board area, while Clonmel is in south Tipperary and is part of the South Eastern Health Board area. The Mid-Western Health Board obviously is responsible for the provision of health services in the north Tipperary area. This anomaly is creating severe problems on the ground because there is a lack in terms of the driving forward of the agenda regarding the provision of services in north Tipperary. In addition, the main hospital is in Clonmel.
For a number of years Nenagh has been promised a psychiatric unit and it is once again on the agenda. It is over two years since the previous Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Cowen, announced spending of just over £5 million on Nenagh hospital. Part of this funding was to provide a psychiatric unit. While planning permission has been granted for the extension of the hospital and planning work is proceeding on the consolidation of the health board run services on the campus, there is still no move on the psychiatric unit.
The Glenroyd day care centre is down the road from the hospital. This is a converted house and it is the only day care centre for psychiatric patients in the entire area. It has one psychologist and it runs its day care service as well as it can. There are no residential, hostel or emergency services. A person rang me about this matter last week. He told me that one can only get medication from Monday to Friday, or from Tuesday to Friday if there is a bank holiday weekend. One is in trouble if one needs medication on a Saturday or a Sunday, particularly if it is a long weekend. This is the reality for people there.
The waiting time for an appointment is approximately 18 months for an urgent case. I spoke to a parent of a 21 year old who has been through the mill for approximately ten years because of his son's psychiatric illness. The son has received the best possible service from Glenroyd, as have others, but if it was not for his father's perseverance, support, capacity and ability to deal with the problem, God knows where the son would be at this stage, as his father openly admits.
I tabled this matter because it is an urgent issue. There is a need to bring matters to a head. I know from talking to my colleagues that the provision of psychiatric services around the country must be upgraded. However, it is my duty to bring this matter to the Minister of State's attention. Depending on his response, I will continue to ask why more resources and services are not provided for the community of north Tipperary in this extremely important area. I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to raise this matter.
