COMPLAINT TO MINISTER OVER TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL TEEN
THE father of a teenage boy who attempted to take his own life has filed an official complaint with Minister of State with Responsibility for Mental Health Mary Butler, over the young man’s treatment at Wexford General Hospital.
Having been brought to the hospital after ingesting a large amount of tablets, the young man was kept on a ward for two days during which time his father could not see him as a result of Covid restrictions. After the two days, the father (not named to protect the young man’s identity) received a call saying his son was being discharged and sent home to await an appointment. When he asked what the on-call psychiatrist had said, the father maintains that he was told that the psychiatrist had refused to see the young man as he was under 18 and because of the ongoing situation with Covid.
Unwilling to accept this the father subsequently contacted local TD Verona Murphy and subsequently informed Minister Butler, who upon making a couple of calls, was told that the on-call psychiatrist had not only not refused to see the teenager, but had never been informed of the case.
The distraught father said that situations like this cannot be allowed to continue, as they could have disastrous consequences.
‘ This is a child who wanted to take his own life,’ he said. ‘I administer his medication to him every day, but he obviously hadn’t been swallowing the tablets and he was storing them. He had planned to do this. I didn’t make the call to take him to Wexford General, the National Ambulance Service did. It was a life or death situation. Then I had to refuse to take him home until he had seen a psychiatrist.’
‘I hadn’t been able to see him, so I didn’t know what his mental state was. For all I know, we could have pulled up outside the house and he could have took off running for the bridge. Only a proper psychiatrist was qualified to assess his mental state. The people at Wexford General told me that it was an acute medical hospital and there were no psychiatric services there and I understand that, but that’s not my fault and it’s not the people of Wexford’s fault that there’s no CAMHS or psychiatric beds there.’
The father believes that this is just a prime example of the disconnect between hospitals and mental health services.
‘Nobody knows what’s going on,’ he said. ‘ They don’t communicate properly. Once again the point needs to be stressed, we need 24 hour access to mental health services in this county. I couldn’t bring him to Waterford to the psychiatric ward there on this occasion, not that I’d want to anyway. The ambulance service had to make the call because it was an emergency. I couldn’t believe it when they wanted to discharge him into my care before he’d been assessed. I got a big spiel about how Wexford General is a medical hospital and they asked me if my son was to contract Covid there, would I take responsibility.
‘I’ve made an official complaint to the Minister. I feel my son has consistently been failed by the system. I just want to highlight these flaws for the next child that comes along. The complaint now has to go through the official channels and pass through the system. But for parents in my situation, it’s like a time-bomb waiting to go off. You’re constantly worrying about what will happen next.’
Independent TD Verona Murphy intervened on behalf of the family involved on New Year’s Eve, contacting Minister Butler and effectively ensuring that the young man wouldn’t be discharged before being properly assessed.
‘ The system in place is completely disjointed,’ she blasted. ‘We absolutely need clarity on these issues. Can the on-call psychiatrist attend the hospital during Covid spikes? I know they are saying that the hospital is now for essential situations only, but since when is mental health not essential?
‘It’s my understanding that this young man should have been referred to Waterford to the psychiatric unit, because unfortunately we don’t have an out of hours CAMHS service in Wexford. This young man has a report with recommendations going back 14 months and not one of those recommendations has been followed up on. The system needs a complete overhaul. You can talk about cost, but really where mental health is concerned it’s an investment. Early intervention is essential and we could do a lot more with the money that we have.
‘What this absolutely highlights is the need to continue the fight for our own mental health unit in Wexford.’