Latest news with #HSESouthwest
Irish Examiner
26-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Kerry families 'frustrated' at pace of review into children's mental health services
Families in Kerry affected by failures in children's mental health services in the county have said they are very disappointed at delays in finishing a review of care. It comes as the Mental Health Commission's annual report shows average compliance rates of 58.34% for Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) centres against four standards. HSE Southwest apologised on Wednesday for not yet finishing a 2023 review into the care of 300 children. 'They are frustrated, it's been really very, very disappointing. This is going on years now,' local TD Michael Cahill said of affected families. 'The impact its had on the individuals, most of whom are young adults now, is long-term and permanent.' He welcomed the HSE's apology but said: 'What does an apology do? I would have called on Simon Harris and Micheál Martin for a public apology, it might give some bit of comfort to the families.' Mental Health Commission report Meanwhile, the Mental Health Commission's annual report found mixed progress in adult and children's services. In Camhs centres it found problems against four standards. These were care plans, risk management, quality of buildings and staffing numbers. These low grades were despite improvements in other areas. The Eist Linn unit in Cork had a rating of 73% overall. Just three counties have Camhs beds nationally. 'Children and young people in crisis may be left with the unacceptable 'choice' between an emergency department, general hospital, children's hospital, or an adult inpatient unit,' the report said. Only five children were admitted to adult units last year, the lowest recorded. CEO John Farrelly welcomed the 'continued decline in restrictive practices' across all services. He noted some centres had fixed long-standing problems, saying: 'These services have demonstrated that poor levels of compliance can be reversed.' He also warned: 'The number of non-compliances rated as high and critical increased on previous years." The commission took 31 enforcement actions across 20 centres, including twice proposing to limit new admissions. Cork and Kerry accounted for 11.52% of physical restraint episodes last year, and the southeast, including Tipperary and Waterford, for 10.56%. The youngest resident physically restrained anywhere was 12 and the oldest was 86. There were 10 episodes of restraint using devices or bodily garments for between 25 minutes and four hours. Last year, there were 316 programmes of Electro-Convulsive Therapy notified for 235 patients in 16 approved centres. The HSE welcomed positive trends, saying six centres achieved 100% compliance, four of which were HSE facilities. Referring to non-compliances, a spokeswoman said: 'The new regional structure will improve how services are run in each area and provide a consistent quality of care across the country. 'HSE Mental Health will develop a detailed action plan with targeted initiatives to improve compliance in these areas.'
Irish Examiner
26-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
HSE apologises for two-year delay in North Kerry children's mental health review
The HSE has apologised for the fact that a review of 300 children in mental health services in North Kerry has taken two years and is still not complete. The report is only at draft stage, minister of state for mental health Mary Butler told the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday morning. She also said that 'red flags' identified in children's care have already led to individual open disclosure meetings between families and the HSE. After the committee, a spokeswoman for HSE Southwest said: 'We sincerely regret that this review process has taken longer than we initially hoped, and we apologise to the young people involved and their families.' She said it is not yet possible to give a definitive completion date. 'It is important to point out that all individual young people and families have already been told what the review team found in relation to their care,' she said. 'The information was provided in person at individual open disclosure meetings detailing the full clinical details available in relation to the cases involved where necessary.' The final report will contain recommendations from Dr Colette Halpin and her expert team, as well as relevant clinical information. The look-back review was set up after the shocking findings from the Maskey Report on CAMHS in South Kerry, which included evidence of 'significant harm' caused to 46 children among the 240 whose care was deemed substandard.
Irish Examiner
03-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
'I need a scan to see if I'm dying or not': Lung cancer patient queries outsourcing and delays
A Cork lung cancer patient has raised questions about delays to vital scans and the impact of outsourcing the reading of those scans in her case. Up to Thursday, 43-year-old Gillian Ryan, who lives in Bandon, Co Cork, had no date for a scan due six months after her last one in October. 'It is a surveillance scan to see where the cancer's at, how it's behaving. Basically, I need a scan to see if I'm dying or not,' she said. 'I did relay how anxious this was making me, this was my life at the end of the day.' Her last scan was at a private clinic in Cork City under an arrangement with Cork University Hospital (CUH). However, she was told this is no longer possible even when she offered to pay. Last week she was given an appointment for June 7 at Bantry General Hospital. This caused further distress because last year and in 2023 she experienced problems with reading of scans when this was outsourced by Bantry. 'I was just shocked, just shell-shocked that was even an option to send me back there, as that was the very hospital that outsourced my scans only for them to be unreported on,' she said. The nodule was allowed to double in size, twice, it went unreported. She had the top section of her right lung removed previously, this nodule formed on the bottom section going from 4mm in April 2023 to 10mm by November 2024. Her children are 20 and 17, and she said: 'They still need me, and I'm only 43. I don't want to expire this early. Gillian Ryan had the top section of her right lung removed previously. 'I appreciate other people are waiting but I can only think of me and my two children, I don't want to leave them motherless.' She added: 'I was told last April [2024] that I would never have to go back to Bantry, that all my care would be in the CUH going forward.' She has been told by staff informally there is no resident radiologist in Bantry. 'It just feels like I'm being swept under the carpet, that my life doesn't matter,' she said. 'I do think priority should be given to people who're going through cancer. We should have learned from the CervicalCheck not to outsource our scans. Ms Ryan discussed this with the Irish Examiner on Wednesday when she had "no concrete date". Questions were submitted to the HSE Southwest on Thursday morning. Later that day after Ms Ryan contacted CUH again, the private clinic said CUH authorised an appointment for Friday morning with it. 'This scan determines the course of my life,' she said afterwards. 'I should never have had to fight, beg. This is your life and your life matters.' HSE Southwest said cancer care is led the CUH Cancer Centre, with some surveillance scans at Bantry. 'The interval between these scans may vary, depending on each patient's treatment plan,' a spokeswoman said on Friday. The radiology systems at both hospitals are linked meaning scans taken there can be viewed, read, and reported at CUH. 'We can confirm that an external company provides radiology reporting services at Bantry General Hospital. "This service is accredited and subject to regular audit,' she said. The hospital does not comment on individual patients' treatment. It is understood CUH has been in touch with Ms Ryan and intends to review her care.
