Nurses slam HSE decision

CLAIMS that the closure of a local mental health service could seriously impact on the care of clients suffering from conditions like phobias and anxiety disorders have been denied by the HSE.

The Psychiatric Nurses’ Association (PNA) said last week that the removal of the Ballymun facility will undermine local mental health services, but the health authority says a replacement service based on the North Circular Road is better suited to meet the needs of clients.

The PNA believes the move is counter to the objectives of the Government’s mental health strategy to provide accessible services for people with mental illness. 

Following a lengthy review of local mental health day-care facilities, the five-day Tus Nua service in Ballymun officially closed last December and a three-day programme was put in its place as an interim measure.

However, this will now be discontinued and replaced by what the HSE describe as a new “evidence based” service model known as the Recovery Hub.

The PNA believe the move is counter to the objectives of the Government’s mental health strategy to provide accessible services for people with mental illness. 

“The Ballymun centre is one of three, including Drumcondra and Clontarf, which the HSE is closing and centralising services at the day centre in North Circular Road,” said PNA General Secretary Designate, Peter Hughes. “This will require two bus journeys for clients in Ballymun to get to the new service and while the HSE say they will provide transport by minibus, they have given no guarantee that this transport will be available in the long-term.

“Easy access is vital to ensure the 19 clients currently attending Ballymun continue to use the mental health services.”

The PNA believes the closure of Tus Nua will undermine mental health services in Ballymun, which it says are already well below those recommended for a population of its size.

“While the PNA recognises the need to move from the present facility, there is ample alternative accommodation in Ballymun in which to carry on the work of Tus Nua,” Hughes continued. 

“This move flies in the face of the ‘Vision for Change‘ mental health strategy. The PNA is calling on the HSE to defer the closure of Tus Nua until the services it currently operates can be relocated to alternative accommodation within the Ballymun area.”

Chair of Dublin North East Health Services Committee, Cllr Noeleen Reilly (SF), said she was “deeply saddened” by the HSE decision.

“It’s very bad news for Ballymun,” she stated.

“I don’t believe that many of the people using the current service will travel to the new service. They will now have to get two buses; it’s just not going to happen. The writing was on the wall last November when the HSE said they were going to pull the service from the area. They rowed back slightly on this but unfortunately no long-term commitments were given. There was uproar in the community at the time and I know this decision will leave people very disappointed and angry.”

The HSE believes its new Recovery Hub service model is in line with the Government’s Vision For Change mental health strategy and is better suited to meet the needs of clients.

“The latest research states that enabling recovery requires all concerned to move away from the traditional and exclusive focus of treating illness, moving towards promoting wellbeing and connectedness in the community,” a spokesperson said.

The HSE says research also shows that day care clients can become reliant on service programmes to meet their social, occupational and friendship needs, which can hamper recovery.

“We are now moving from a situation where service users were provided with a menu of options to one where they are directing the design and provision of services based on individualised need,” the spokesperson continued.

The HSE said the interim service that replaced Tus Nua last December was designed to focus on connecting clients with meaningful resources and activities within the community that would promote social inclusion.

“Service users who are identified as requiring access to mental health day services will have the Recovery Hub to meet their needs,” the spokesperson added. “The social drop-in group, which is held in Ballymun Mental Health Services, Civic Offices, will continue.”