Bantry Hospital’s mental health unit gets €2.5m

A WEST Cork centre for mental health care and recovery is to benefit from a €2.5m investment.

A spokesperson for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare confirmed that the funding has been approved by the HSE and will be spent, this year, on providing a newly-configured visitors’ room, group rooms, therapy rooms, and communal spaces at the centre, which is located on the site of Bantry General Hospital.

‘It’s good news for a service that had hit the headlines for the wrong reasons last September,’ according to Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan. There were plans, last year, by the Mental Health Commission to reduce the number of beds in the acute mental health facility in Bantry from 18 to 11 in order to meet statutory requirements to provide adequate personal space and privacy for residents.

This week, the HSE issued a statement saying: ‘As agreed with the Mental Health Commission, the bed number at the centre has been reduced to 15, pending completion of the next phase of works. Once this work is completed, the approved bed number will revert to 18.’

In recent months, the HSE said significant remedial works, including works to improve safety and ligature risks, upgrading of the lift, new flooring and re-painting, have been completed.

‘All of these works will support mental health services in Cork Kerry Community Healthcare to achieve greater compliance with regulatory requirements and to provide a higher standard of care for our service users,’ the HSE spokesperson added.

Deputy O’Sullivan said the investment represents ‘a long, long overdue investment’, but said what is really needed in West Cork is ‘a standalone, purpose-built facility where people can get the treatment they need’.