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Mental health services have been described as a "national disgrace" after it emerged that almost 200 children were admitted to adult psychiatric hospitals
A report submitted to the Government by the Mental Health Commission said some children admitted to adult institutions are as young as 14 and this has an adverse effect on their wellbeing.
“The provision of age-appropriate approved centres for children and adolescents must be addressed as a matter of urgency,” the report said.
Fine Gael’s health spokesman, Dr James Reilly, described the situation as “cruel” and said it is “even more cruelly felt in Brian Cowen’s recession”.
He said the issue has been highlighted for years.
Dr Reilly criticised the situation in Beaumont Hospital where planning permission was granted in 2004 for a new psychiatric unit and a tender was issued for its construction in 2005.
“The funding has never been made available and now they are putting a private co-located hospital there,” he said.
Dr Reilly said the lack of funding in the area does not make economic sense. “The lack of intervention at a young age is going to cost the State huge money down the line to treat these people as adults,” he said.
Labour health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said the situation facing these children is lamentable: “I have been dealing with one young teenager in particular. This poor girl was suicidal and so her case was of extreme urgency, but it still took months before an appropriate place could be found for her.
“When a place was eventually found for her, it was a long way from her own region.”
Ms O’Sullivan said: “Children can suffer for untold damage in these circumstances. The physical environment is completely unsuited for children, and the staff are not trained to deal with children and adolescents.
By Mary Reagan, Political Reporter, Irish Examiner
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