Connacht Tribune
People with mental illness were ‘abandoned’ in pandemic
A mental health campaigner who is on a waiting list for nine months for a primary care psychology appointment has appealed to Government to invest in the ‘poor relation’ of the health services.
Mary McCarthy, a mother of four from Williamstown, said people with mental illness were abandoned during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“People with mental health problems, be it anxiety right up to serious schizophrenia, are the most vulnerable people in society but it feels like we’ve been forgotten and abandoned.
“Through the whole pandemic, what has the Government done? Nothing was put in place and yet people are crying out for help. They have just forgotten about us,” Mary told the Connacht Tribune.
She first became involved with psychiatric services in 2005, when a traumatic event from 1990 came to the forefront and she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and depression.
Since then, she “made numerous attempts at suicide and self-harming,” she said, and has had first-hand experience of the psychiatric services in Roscommon and Emergency Department in Ballinasloe.
In 2018, the 56-year-old was devastated when she separated from her husband.
She contacted local mental health services to seek support, but no appointments were available.
After waiting weeks to be seen, she eventually took an overdose.
“I feel let down,” said Mary, who added she was lucky to good family, friend support and a decent employer.
The pandemic presented its own challenges. In January, Mary suffered a mental health crisis and sought treatment from Portiuncula Hospital. Despite her distress, she had no choice but to wait in an Emergency Department for over five hours.
Due to Covid-19 health restrictions, she was kept in isolation overnight in a psychiatric ward in Roscommon, but released the following day.
For the past nine months, Mary has been on a waiting list for a primary care psychology appointment; she is tired of waiting.
“I’m waiting and waiting and waiting. What can I do but just hope for the best? I think the Government has so much to answer for,” she said.
Mary said that making psychiatric patients go through Emergency Departments was wrong; a lack of beds was another problem.
“They closed the psychiatric unit in Ballinasloe; it was done up at a cost of €2.8 million and nobody ever went through the doors as a psychiatric patient. It doesn’t make sense when people are crying out for beds,” she said.
Mary praised the new Community Mental Health Café that operates from Mr Waffle opposite University Hospital Galway after hours, but she said there should be more rolled-out in towns and villages.
She is now campaigning with Mental Health Reform, a national coalition, which is calling on the Government to invest €85 million in Ireland’s mental health services in Budget 2022.
The group, which represents 77 organisations in the community and voluntary sector, has submitted an extensive ‘shopping list’ of areas to prioritise.
It includes recruitment of primary care psychologists and assistant psychologists to reduce waiting times and divert referrals from specialist services. It also includes investing €15 million in the community and voluntary sector to support the delivery of mental health services including counselling and psychotherapy; investing €6.5 million for the expansion of the CAMHS Connect (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) model to improve out-of-hours crisis intervention mental health services for children and young people; and €2 million for national advocacy services for children and adults with mental health difficulties in hospital, prison, residences and in the community.
CEO of Mental Health Reform, Fiona Coyle, said: “Covid-19 has adversely affected the physical and mental wellbeing of many people in Ireland. Thousands more people have come forward to access support during this difficult period. Evidence is emerging of a shadow pandemic, where the burden of trauma will have a profound impact on mental health and primary care services for many years.
“This needs a clear and comprehensive response from the Government, including a step-change in funding levels. Now is the time to resource, rebuild and reform our mental health services; we cannot go back to a broken system.”
Mary agreed: “I want Government and all elected representatives to just think would they want the mental health services to be there for one of their family members? They need to get behind the people and invest money in the services. It’s pointless if the Government doesn’t listen.”
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.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
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
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
