Rose Conway-Walsh Highlights Mental Health Failures in County Mayo
Rose Conway-Walsh criticised the mental health system, citing individual cases from County Mayo and arguing it is failing patients and families. She highlighted injuries suffered by a woman in an adult mental health unit and the inability of a qualified psychiatric nurse to find work locally, and urged support for the Sinn Féin motion.
Case from County Mayo
A woman from County Mayo has been in an adult mental health unit since June after being admitted in acute distress but otherwise physically well. While in the unit she has suffered a choking episode, a broken hip and most recently broken risk requiring surgery, and her family say she is now frail, traumatised, frightened to walk and deteriorating before their eyes.
Family barriers and consent issues
Her family sought to move her to a nursing home but were told nothing could proceed without written consent from the woman, who by every account is not well enough to give informed consent. Rose Conway-Walsh described this as bureaucracy acting as a shield while families are left desperate and unheard and said it is not patient-centred care.
Staffing and recruitment problems
A highly qualified psychiatric nurse from Mayo, with 10 years' experience in the NHS and who was born and raised in the county, has been told there are no jobs available locally. Conway-Walsh contrasted that refusal to recruit with the county's profound mental health distress, including tragic loss of life to suicide.
System pressures on emergency services
Conway-Walsh warned that the system is funneling 50,000 people in mental health crisis into chaotic A&E settings that are not fit for purpose. She also referenced shortages of ambulance services in the West and overcrowded emergency departments as compounding the crisis.
Call for political action
She pressed the minister to "join up the dots" and argued the Sinn Féin motion matters as a response to these failures, framing the debate as about real people in real crisis and a system currently failing them in plain sight.
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This motion is about real people in real crisis right now and about a system that is failing them in plain sight. And I want to begin with the case of a woman from County Mayo who has been in an adult mental health unit since June last year. She was admitted in acute distress but otherwise physically well. Today, after repeated incidents in what is meant to be a secure unit, she has suffered choking episode, a broken hip and most recently broken risk requiring surgery. Her family describe her now as a frail, traumatised, frightened to walk and deteriorating before their eyes. Minister, this is not good enough. Yet when her brother and her family sought answers and intervened to have her moved to a nursing home, he was told that there was nothing that could proceed without written consent from a woman who by every account is not mentally well enough to give an informed consent. This is not patient-centred care. It's bureaucracy used as its shield while families are left desperate and unheard. And after, at the very same time, a highly qualified psychiatric nurse from Mayo, born and raised, with 10 years' experience in the NHS, wants to come back to work in Mayo. But she's told that there are no jobs in a county experiencing profound mental health distress, including tragic loss of life to suicide. A highly skilled psychiatric nurse has been told she's not needed in Mayo. So, Minister, we need to join up the dots here. We cannot continue to funnel 50,000 people in mental health crisis into chaotic A&E settings that are not fit for purpose. I've already spoken at length in this house about the shortage of ambulance services in the West and overcrowded emergency departments at our hospital. This is why this Sinn Féin motion matters. Thank you. Thank you.
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