A NORTHSIDE TD is calling on the Minister for Health to take urgent action to deal with delays in local people accessing mental health services.
The HSE told Deputy Broughan the timelines for the next available routine Mental Health Outpatient assessment appointment dates were eight weeks for Coolock, 10 weeks for Killester, 11 weeks for Kilbarrack East and 12 months for Kilbarrack West.
Deputy Broughan, an Independent TD for Dublin Bay North, sought the information after being contacted by concerned constituents about the waiting times.
The HSE’s reply to Deputy Broughan also stated that if a referral is “deemed urgent during the triage process, the service user will be prioritised for an urgent assessment.
“There is also a suicide crisis assessment nurse in place which helps address urgent cases,” the HSE said.
Deputy Broughan queried the “astonishing” wait time of 12 months for Kilbarrack West Mental Health Services.
In a subsequent correspondence from the HSE, he was told: “Kilbarrack West had no dedicated consultant cover last year for many months due to sick leave of a consultant and this is how the increased waiting list began.
“There is now a Suicide Crisis Assessment Nurse service in Kilbarrack West which helps address urgent cases. The post is currently filled by a locum consultant.
“The Consultant Appointments Committee has approved the filling of this post by a permanent consultant in the last three weeks, and the post should be advertised in the next six weeks. The above measures will help performance in Kilbarrack West.”
Kilbarrack East and West Mental Health Services are located in Kilbarrack Health Centre in Raheny.
Deputy Broughan said: “All long waiting lists are unacceptable and to think that patients from Kilbarrack East face a three-month wait for mental health assessment while their neighbours from Kilbarrack West will face a 12-month wait is shocking, disgraceful and really beggars belief.
“It is also quite unbelievable that waiting lists could be allowed to grow to such an extent that people needing mental health services have to wait for a year or more and that recruitment hasn’t even taken place for a new consultant.
“The postcode lottery strikes again in our public service. I have previously asked the Minister for Health and indeed included it in my own pre-budget submissions in recent years, to provide the necessary funding to fully implement the ‘Vision For Change’ Mental Health Strategy and examples like this show how urgently this is needed.”
Deputy Broughan said he has also written to the Minister and requested that he direct that a second locum consultant is appointed immediately to help provide assessments to those on the waiting list.
The HSE was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.