HSE SAYS NO FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR MOVE TO SUITABLE CARE CENTRE

THE mother of a teenage girl who has acute behavioural difficulties is at her wits end, having spent 115 days in limbo at Wexford General Hospital waiting for funding to be made available for her to get a bed at an appropriate residential care centre. The mother, who wishes not to be identified to protect her daughter’s anonymity, says that, for the third time, they have been offered a bed in an appropriate care centre for her daughter, but they’ve been told by the HSE that no regional or national funding is available for her to take up her place and begin treatment.

The mother, referred to as Nicola for the purpose of this piece, says that problems first started with her 15 year-old daughter around eight and a half years ago.

‘At first it was seen as a mental health issues and it was directed that she should go to CAHMS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services),’ Nicola explained. ‘I believed it was more of a disability problem. I could show you two foolscap pages of diagnoses that we’ve had over the year. They range from autism and behavioural issues to ADHD, ODD, PTSD and even an intellectual disability.’

At the height of the problems, Nicola, who has three other children aged from 10 to 17, one of whom is also special needs, was living in fear over what would happen next.

‘In the last two and a half or three years, things have gotten much worse,’ she said. ‘She’d overdose or self-harm. We’d be in and out of casualty all the time. If we were out or had visitors and she happened to see some pills in someone’s handbag, she’d take them, not even knowing what they were. It got to the stage where we had to tell visitors to leave their handbags in the car. If she couldn’t get her hands on anything else, she’d smash her head against the wall.’

‘She required 24 hour care before we came in (to Wexford General) and after a while they couldn’t control her in school. There were two SNAs appointed to her and she’d manage to run off and we’d have to get the gardaí out looking for her. They were very good to us. At one point they even tried to section her so we could get her the help that she needs, but she’s not psychotic. It’s just her anxiety levels are through the roof.’

Having previously been in and out of hospital and with things getting no better, Nicola made the difficult decision that her daughter would have to remain in hospital until she received the help she needed in the form of a bed in a residential care unit. That was 115 days ago. The offers of two beds have come and gone. Another one is currently on the table, however, Nicola has unceremoniously been told that her daughter will not be taking it up as the funding is not currently available to pay for it. In the meantime, she is forced to stay with her daughter and is effectively living in the hospital room beside her. She only makes it home to see her other three