‘We’re just trying to keep our children alive’
HIGH LEVEL OF FRUSTRATION AND HOPELESSNESS AT MENTAL HEALTH OPEN MEETING
A sense of frustration and sheer hopelessness loomed large as the Mental Health Commission hosted an open meeting in Wexford on Thursday night. The meeting aimed to outline the work that the commission does as a regulator and to open a discussion on the future of regulation of mental health services in Ireland. However, once the floor opened up to speakers, the extent of the mental health crisis in the so-called model county became evident.
‘We’re just trying to keep our kids alive,’ one dejected parent stated to the room.
Notable was the lack of elected representatives in the room. While the Dáil was sitting for the first time and there were apologies from some of Wexford’s newly elected TDs, there was one sole county councillor present for the discussion - Fine Gael’s Brídín Murphy.
A healthcare professional and parent of a son with a mental health issue, David Maher, criticised the absence of politicians and was firm in his assessment of mental health services in the South East.
‘ The HSE has completely and utterly failed my son and those around him,’ he said. ‘ This is going on decades and it’s getting worse. This is my lived experience. I’ve got little or no support. We can’t trust the HSE. For decades they have let us down. I have nobody to go to. I’ve tried to make complaints. The Mental Health Commission won’t take complaints; there’s no point complaining to the HSE, they won’t listen. If the HSE won’t listen to the Mental Health Commission, what hope is there that they’ll listen to us? I’d ask the Mental Health Commission to set up a system whereby people and family members and parents can make complaints. People are dying because of this.’
‘We’re at crisis point,’ he continued. ‘ There’s absolutely nothing there in terms of support. They’ll admit themselves (the HSE) that the service is in a desperate condition. This has a huge impact. It’s impacted financially. It impacts families lifestyles etc. This is still a very taboo subject unfortunately.’
The term ‘postcode lottery’ is one that surfaced several times in the course of the meeting. Desperate parents stated that, owing to the fact that they live in Wexford, they can’t get access to the same level of care as in other parts of the country.
One local parent of two children with mental health difficulties, a teacher with over 30 years experience who preferred not to be named, also offered a harrowing insight into daily life for families dealing with mental health struggles.
‘ The biggest mistake I’ve made is living in Wexford,’ she said. ‘If I was living where I grew up, my son would have access to a much better service and would have a much better outcome. Not too long ago we had two child suicides in Wexford within a few weeks of each other. This corner of the country is particularly bad. I don’t know if you have the power to change anything, but there’s a real inequality of care depending on your postcode.’
‘I brought a child that attempted suicide, that had cut their two wrists, into Wexford General on a Friday morning. Because they were under 18, I was told that CAMHS might see them Tuesday. What am I supposed to do over the weekend? I’m not trained in how to deal with this. This is the reality in Wexford. In Dublin, you could go to Crumlin.’
‘You’re doing your best to work and keep a normal family life,’ the mother continued. ‘Nobody from CAMHS picks up the phone and asks how you are doing. We can’t keep knives in our house. We’re buttering toast with a spoon. But nobody can pick up the phone to see how we’re getting on because they simply don’t have the staff. It’s not good enough.’
‘Unless you’ve walked in a parents’ shoes, don’t tell me what it feels like. You’re at home wondering will tonight be the night that they kill themselves? Will they attack their brother or sister. They say that for every child with mental illness, around 32 people are affected and I’d believe that. Children’s lives are at risk. We’ve had enough in Wexford. We’ve done everything.’
‘I haven’t been on a night out for seven years because I’m caring for two kids with mental illness. The impact is lifelong. Aspirations are one thing, the reality on the ground is another. I’d ignore the dirt on the floor in these places if it meant my children were getting the proper medical care.’
Local mental health advocate and father of four Raymond Shannon spoke of his experiences with his teenage son, who was twice put into adult psychiatric services in Waterford.
‘He was asked if he was released, would he hurt himself,’ he said. ‘Now anyone would say “no” to that just to get out of there. After that, he wouldn’t go to see the psychiatrist after that for fear of being sent back to Waterford. We’re just trying to keep our kids alive.’
‘On one occasion, my son spent 26 hours on chairs in A&E with a blanket over him,’ he continued. ‘ Then he was on a trolley for 12 hours. The only reason he got a bed is because a TD, Pat Buckley made some calls and got him a bed in Linn Dara. Since all this he hasn’t been back to school or anything like that. The damage has been done to that child.’
Chief Executive of the Mental Health Commission Mr John Farrelly and Chairman Mr John Saunders listened to the people’s stories and spoke sympathetically, however, for those
dealing with mental health issues on a daily basis, there were major doubts as to what the commission could actually do to improve the situation.
‘Unfortunately we’ve hear similar stories for many years,’ Mr Saunders said.
‘We’re trying to bring them to the political masters. We’ve brought this to several Ministers for Health. They all say that they will do something, but we can’t see significant shifts or changes over time. Mental health seems to be low down the ladder in terms of priority. This is a political issue.’
‘We do have certain powers,’ Mr Farrelly assured the crowd. ‘For example we could put a condition on a hospital that they cannot accept child admissions. But if we do that, it goes to court, the HSE will probably object and then you also have to worry about what we call “unintended outcomes” of these actions. But if a regulator can’t create change, it might as well not be there.’
Continuing, Mr Farrelly said that of all the HSE areas, CHO Area 5, which contains Wexford, Waterford, Carlow/Kilkenny and South Tipperary, doesn’t seem to make much sense as a grouping.
‘Maybe we need to implement different models in different areas,’ he said.
‘ There’s a lot of work to do and I don’t want to commit here tonight to something that I can’t deliver. I can assure you that the thoughts you’ve been articulating tonight is very near to what we believe ourselves. We are the state regulator and we should not be fobbed off. We’re all about restoring trust and confidence in mental health services and that’s what we’ll work towards.’