Steeple House in Clondalkin provides a wide array of specialist mental health services to people living in the area.
The service works in partnership with local GPs, Adelaide and Meath Hospital incorporating the National Children’s Hospital (AMNCH), and other local health care, social and rehabilitation services.
Parliamentary questions submitted by Mark Ward, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Mental Health, showed there are 17 vacancies in the small community service.
The HSE confirmed the vacancies include roles such as Area Director of Nursing, Clinical Nurse Managers, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Community Mental Health Nurses, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, and Staff Nurses.
“The reason I raised this is because, anecdotally, I would have heard there was an issue and I wasn’t hearing anything back,” Mr Ward said.
“Seventeen to me is a huge number of vacancies for a community mental health service.
“Due to the lack of out-of-hour services, people in mental health distress find themselves with nowhere to go so they end up in A&E.
“I have had people in the locality with referrals to Steeple House that have never been contacted,” he added.
As a nation, we’ve moved forward from what Deputy Ward calls our “black history” in dealing with mental health. However, he believes we still have a long way to go.
“The idea to move away from this was to begin resourcing our community mental health teams, and that didn’t happen, not in line with the demand for services that are out there,” he added.
He is calling for comprehensive answers from the HSE on the efforts being made to fill these vacancies and wants more information on the exact numbers of staff that are currently working for the service.
It is unknown whether the current embargo on recruitment in the HSE is going to impact filling the vacancies.
Deputy Ward said that certain pilots that are initiatives outside of A&E should be explored, such as an out-of-hours mental health café in Galway that is being run as a trial now.
There is also concern about the fact that the increased pressure on local community mental health services may have a knock-on impact on emergency services.
“What can happen is a person in mental health duress might be left for a long time waiting to see a liaison psychiatrist because you can’t see their physical injuries,” Mr Ward said.
“What happens then is these people can be left for hours and end up leaving, and some of those people don’t make it back.”
The HSE has been contacted for comment.
