asked the Minister for Health if the conditions of male ward 8B in Saint Ita's Hospital, Portrane, Dublin, were adversely commented upon by the Dublin Corporation's mental health visiting committee in a report submitted on 6th December, 1969; if this report is correct; for how long such conditions have persisted; and if any action has since been taken to deal with these matters.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Dublin Hospital Ward.
19.
I received from the Dublin Health Authority only within the past few days a copy of the report referred to. There has not been time since to obtain an up-to-date report from one of my inspectors, but I know that conditions in this ward are not satisfactory.
The health authority was pressed by my Department as far back as 1957 to make improvements in ward 8, which catered for very severely mentally handicapped patients. Over the years since that time a number of improvements have been made. These included improvements in decoration, the subdivision of the original ward into two separate wards and the sending away of nurses to obtain experience in providing "habit training" for severely handicapped patients. In the past fortnight, as the first stage of a programme for the replacement of all temporary buildings now used to accommodate patients at St. Ita's, the health authority submitted a proposal for a new unit of 100 beds. This proposal is at present being examined in my Department.
I think the Minister, having read the report, will appreciate that I deliberately did not include very violent language—I suppose that is the only description one could give it—in my question but he must appreciate that this is a very serious and urgent problem. Does he intend to treat it as a special and emergency matter and see that the overcrowding and the bad conditions are dealt with as a matter of extreme urgency?
I will do my best. As the Deputy knows, the particular class of unfortunate patients in this hospital are extremely difficult to deal with. The Deputy probably knows the exact characteristics of those patients, the very great difficulty there is in handling them and the dedication of the people who look after them. I will do my best to expedite this matter.