Donegal Mental Health Services say they have received funding for an additional five staff to provide ongoing support to the people of Creeslough.
The HSE says it will continue to work with other agencies and services to identify persons who are vulnerable and in need of assistance.
The issue was raised at this week’s meeting of the HSE’s Regional Health Forum by Cllr Ciaran Brogan.
Cllr Brogan was told the response to the Creeslough tragedy to date has been intensive, and focused on the needs of the people in the area. Clients were referred to clinical services, and facilitated with priority assessments at a number of agencies, including the Donegal Mental Health Service, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Primary Care Psychology, Jigsaw and Pieta House.
This will continue over a number of months and years.
In addition, clients were referred for priority services within the National Counselling Service, and where necessary, to the Traumatic Bereavement Service.
Chief Community Healthcare officer Dermot Monaghan told Cllr Brogan funding has also been received to recruit two Psychologists and three Clinical Nurse Specialists to provide ongoing support to the people of Creeslough over the next two years, while HSE Support lines also remain active.
The answer was given in the context of Cllr Brogan’s request or a report on improvements in Donegal Mental Health Services over the past three years. The answer is reproduced below…….
Can I get an updated report on the Donegal Mental Health services in the
last 3 years, and the steps being taken to improve the services and an
updated report on the crisis response continuing of services following the
Creeslough tragedy?
Cllr C Brogan
Response – Donegal Mental Health Services provide their services in collaboration with Primary Care, Social Care and other
community and voluntary agencies. Services provided encompass General Adult Psychiatry, Psychiatry of Old Age,
Rehabilitation & Recovery, Mental Health of Intellectual Disability, and Children & Adolescent Mental Health
Services. Services are provided directly in the community as well as in clinical and residential settings. Donegal
Mental Health Services covers a broad geographical region and a population of close to 159,192.
Service Developments / Achievements
Donegal Mental Health Services have received both Capital and Minor Capital investments over the last two
years, and the investments included:
A major capital refurbishment project is currently underway in the Department of Psychiatry at a cost of
€1.2m and commenced in September 2022. It is expected it will take up to two years to fully complete. This
work will be carried out in seven phases and phases 1, 2 and 3 were completed in 2022.
Supervised Residential Unit, Cleary House had a major refurbishment over 2021 and 2022 which cost
approx. €455,000. The output of this investment is that all residents are now in single occupancy, en-suite
accommodation.
Supervised Residential Unit, Rowanfield House Donegal Town received minor capital funding of €175k in
2021 and this was used to create a separate space for the Day Centre.
Funding was received for Park View Day Hospital in 2021 and this was used to refurbish Park View Day
Hospital.
Minister Butler Money was received in 2022 to the amount of €161,667. This was used to replace three
cars, refurbish Supervised Residential Unit’s and the Department of Psychiatry. The funding also provided
upgrades for Low Support Services such as the Workshop based in St Conal’s Hospital and Hostels based in
Letterkenny.
Other achievements included:-
Primary Care Building, Donegal Town opened in 2022 and the CAMHS Services for South Donegal relocated
to this facility.
Primary Care Building, Buncrana opened 2022. CAMHS North East Team and Adult North East Services
relocated to this new facility.
The 2021 National Service Plan recognised the need for the establishment of a Talking Therapies Service.
As part of the development of services, Donegal Mental Health Services received approval for four
development posts for this unique service. These included 1 Senior Psychologist, 1 Senior Occupational
Therapist, 1 Social Worker and 0.5 WTE Admin Support. To date, 1 Psychologist and 1 Senior Occupational
Therapist and 0.5 Admin has taken up post since March 2021. Unfortunately, the Senior Occupational
Therapy post has recently become vacant and the service is actively recruiting for this post and the Social
Worker Post.
Development funding was approved in 2022 to develop the Rehab and Recovery Team. Two new posts
have been recruited and to date an Occupational Therapist, and a Social Worker joining the team in
September 2022.
The Wellness Café Model under the direction of the Rehab and Recovery Team was launched in September
2019. The number of Cafes have increased to more than 15 in 2022.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services are currently delivered by three multi-disciplinary teams
across County Donegal, with each team being led by a permanent CAMHS Consultant. This has had a
positive impact with the overall waiting lists reducing from 196 at the end of December 2019 to 136 by the
end of December 2022. There has also been significant improvement in the numbers of young people
waiting an excess of 12 months for an initial assessment, in 2019 there were 39 waiting an excess of 12
months compared to 2022 with 2 waiting an excess of 12 months. Additional posts recruited in 2022
included an Assistant Director of Nursing and one Clinical Nurse Specialist. In 2022, CAMHS also received
additional funding to deal with waiting lists and two new Service Level Agreements were set up with the
Pastoral Centre and Cunamh respectively.
Developmental funding was also received in 2022 to employ a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Exerciseology to
work within the Addiction Services.
Dr Clifford Haley has retired and Dr Vidis Corro took up the post of Executive Clinical Director on 1st January
2023.
Creeslough Response Team
Donegal Mental Health Services Crisis Response Team managed the implementation of psychosocial
supports throughout the Creeslough tragedy.
Response to date has been intensive and focused on the needs of the people in Creeslough in conjunction
with other HSE and statutory bodies. Clients were referred to clinical services and facilitated with priority
assessments/services to DMHS, CAMHS, POA, Primary Care Psychology, Jigsaw and Pieta House.
This will continue over a number of months and years. In addition, clients were referred for priority
services within National Counselling Service (NCS) and where necessary to the Traumatic Bereavement
Service. We will continue to work with services / other agencies to identify persons who are vulnerable and
in need of assistance and facilitate access to services and supports as appropriate. Donegal Mental Health
Services have also received funding to recruit 2 Psychologists and 3 Clinical Nurse Specialists to provide
ongoing support to the people of Creeslough over the next two years. HSE Support lines remain active to
provide advice and guidance as needed and to signpost clients into services as appropriate.
Dermot Monaghan, Chief Officer, Community Healthcare Organisation, (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan,
Sligo)
