Mental health patients had to wait for “prolonged periods” in the Emergency Department of University Hospital Galway because of a shortage of space in the hospital’s dedicated unit, a new report has confirmed.

The Mental Health Commission’s (MHC) latest report on access to Emergency Department care says that “bed capacity is challenged” in the 50-bed Adult Acute Mental Health Unit on the UHG campus at Newcastle.

It said access to the Consultation Liaison Psychiatry (CLP) team at UHG was “limited” and ED staff were “dependent on an out-of-hours service”.

“Bed capacity is challenged in the Acute Adult Mental Health Unit. Patients with mental health difficulty requiring admission wait for prolonged times in the Emergency Department,” the report said.

UHG’s IT system does not classify mental health presentations at its ED but its CLP team was referred 1,931 mental health patients from ED and 851 were referred onwards in 2023.

Meaanwhile, the report, titled Acute Mental Healthcare in Hospital Emergency Departments in Ireland, revealed that more and more children who have self-harmed are presenting for treatment at the Emergency Department of Portiuncula University Hospital in Ballinasloe.

Portiuncula had 446 people presenting with self-harm to its 24-hour ED in 2023, an increase of 12% on the previous year – and a quarter of the increased presentations were children under the age of 15 who had self-harmed.

Some patients suffering from mental health problems waited up to a week on trolleys in the Ballinasloe ED before they were admitted to an acute psychiatric bed.

Galway East TD, Louis O’Hara (SF), said the report was a “shocking indictment of the care available to people experiencing a mental health crisis in Galway and across the State”.

He agreed with a recommendation in the report that there should be alternatives to Emergency Departments for people experiencing a mental health crisis and requiring unscheduled care.

This echoed a demand of the campaign instigated by the family of Galway man Adam Loughnane who took his own life in February after presenting as suicidal at UHG ED.

“People experiencing a mental health crisis shouldn’t be left to wait and suffer. They deserve and require immediate care. This can be the difference between life and death. This recommendation needs to be acted upon by Government and the HSE to ensure that people suffering with mental health issues have somewhere safe they can present and be seen without delay,” said Deputy O’Hara.

Galway City Councillors at their meeting last week unanimously passed a motion calling on two Ministers in the Department of Health to examine introducing alternative care paths to ED for people presenting as suicidal.

“This Council calls for a separate general admission unit for those experiencing a mental health emergency. The mental health records should be immediately referenced, while also securing and monitoring them when someone says they want to end their lives,” the motion read.

Pictured: Bed capacity is ‘challenged’ in UHG’s Acute Mental Health Unit, report says.