Connacht Tribune
Hospital staff had tried in vain to make contact with suicidal patient
A consultant psychiatrist from University Hospital Galway has sought to assuage concerns at the Coroner’s Court that there was no ‘follow up’ for patients once an appointment was missed.
The Coroner for Galway West, Dr Ciarán MacLoughlin, raised questions over the Psychiatric Unit’s procedure after an inquest into the death of a 36-year-old father-of-two found that he had failed to show up for an appointment and was subsequently discharged from the service.
Having sought further information on the circumstances leading up to the man’s death by suicide in January 2021, Dr MacLoughlin heard this week that a number of attempts were made to contact the man after a scheduled appointment on September 4, 2020 was missed.
Dr Elizabeth Walsh, Consultant Psychiatrist at UHG, said the man had attended the Emergency Department on August 7 following an assessment by his GP.
On assessment at ED, she said he had denied suicidal ideation. Ms Walsh said ‘no risk issues’ were identified and the man was not admitted, nor did he or his partner express a desire for him to be admitted.
She said a management plan was discussed and it was agreed that the best course of treatment would be through Community Mental Health Services.
If somebody presents as high-risk of harm or expresses suicidal ideation, they may be admitted, said Dr Walsh. However, in this instance, the man was deemed to be ‘non-urgent’.
A Community Mental Health Nurse attempted to contact the man on a number of occasions on August 21 and August 24 but failed to do so.
An appointment letter was then sent to his address for September 4, with contact details for the Community Mental Health Team enclosed.
After his failure to attend, Dr Walsh said further efforts to contact him failed and the case was discussed by the multi-disciplinary team on September 10.
It was then, following consideration of all the circumstances and on the basis that the man was classified as being non-urgent, that he was referred back to his GP, said Dr Walsh.
The Coroner said that in the initial inquest hearing, only the man’s records from his GP were available and it was not evident if any attempt had been made to check in with the now deceased man before his death.
After hearing from Dr Walsh, Dr MacLoughlin said he was satisfied that there were a number of attempts made to contact the man.
“I am happy now to have discovered that there is a protocol in place to make contact with a patient who presents to the psychiatric services through A&E, through their GP.
“What happened here was I just got a letter from his GP to say he had been discharged from the [psychiatric] services,” he said.
The man was discovered dead in his city apartment on January 4 after his friend gained access to his home, having not seen him since New Year’s Day.
■ If you’ve been affected by this story, please contact Samaritans on freephone 116 123, email jo@samaritans.ie or visit www.samaritans.org for information on how to support yourself or others in need.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
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