Cork TD appeals for change of direction on mental health facility

A Cork TD and former clinical psychologist has appealed to HSE CEO Bernard Gloster to cancel a major project and direct the funding towards community-integrated services.

Cork Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide raised plans to develop a 50-bed mental health facility at St Stephen's Hospital in Glanmire with the HSE CEO when he attended the Disability Matters Committee in the Dáil last week.

Mr Quaide said: 

“There's very objectively established reasons why the proposal in St Stephen's at the moment is going to be, not only very ethically questionable and wrong in my view, but it's going to be a massive misdirection of public money.

“There are places like Clonakilty and Cobh that don't have community residences for people with severe and enduring mental illness. And because that money is now getting centralised into S. Stephen's Hospital, they won't have it into the future.” 

He said that there will be 50 residents in a place “just not in any way remotely integrated in the community”, explaining that all of the land around St Stephen's is zoned for agricultural use and across the road it's zoned for light industry.

“There isn't even a footpath to the nearest service station, which is 1.7km away. It goes against everything that we've been doing in mental health services since at least the 90s, if not the 80s.” 

He explained that when he joined the North Cork mental health services in 2013, many of his colleagues had been working for years helping long stay patients of St Stephen's Hospital to move out into Kanturk, Newmarket and Mallow. "This is actually a reversal of that trend," he said.

Mr Gloster said that Mr Quaide had raised this topic as a politician and also as a professional in mental health services, and explained that he was happy for the mental health commission and community groups to make submissions “on what they think is right or wrong, and let's see what kind of consensus we can arrive on.

“It's a very big scale plan so it's not one I'm just going to put in the bin and walk away from… I'm not indifferent to what you're saying,” he said, but added: “I'm told the configuration of Glanmire will fundamentally change”, meaning that the location could become more community-based.