News
Suicidal woman is turned away twice from University Hospital Galway
Carers for a suicidal woman with special needs have claimed she was repeatedly refused admission to the psychiatric unit at University Hospital Galway.
When the city woman (47) was turned away from the Emergency Department of UHG, she attempted suicide in the sea off Blackrock in Salthill.
The woman was then brought to UHG by ambulance and accompanied by Gardaí but her carer says she was again turned away.
She attempted to gain admission to the psychiatric unit again last Thursday but to no avail.
In desperation, the woman then overdosed on her medication last Thursday night and was finally admitted to the psychiatric unit on Friday morning after first going through the general hospital.
She is currently being treated for her mental health problems at the psychiatric unit.
Teresa Daly, counselling psychologist, explained that the woman was having suicidal thoughts last Tuesday night and they went to the ED to have her admitted to the psychiatric unit at UHG.
“We tried to get her under observation in the psychiatric unit overnight but she was turned away. They wouldn’t admit here. We were told to go home,” she said.
Ms Daly said that on Wednesday a security guard asked her, the woman and her elderly mother to leave the premises. “I said no way. I asked him if he was going to forcibly remove a 47-year-old suicidal woman with special needs and her 84-year-old mother and me from the hospital. He said he wouldn’t but they would ring the Guards, which they didn’t.
“We don’t know why she wasn’t admitted. We were being told she missed an appointment but that has nothing to do with how she is feeling now, and the suicidal thoughts that she is having now. We were days trying to get her in.
“She was turned away but overdosed on Thursday night and was admitted Friday morning. Once you are in you get the treatment you need. But it is shocking to think that in 2015 that this is what you have to do,” she said.
Addiction counsellor, Jim Riddle, who is familiar with the case, said it was “an absolute disgrace” and “completely shocking” the ordeal this woman and her mother were put through. Mr Riddle said it was shameful that someone who was crying out for help had to fight to get it.
Galway City Councillor Pádraig Conneely (FG), who was contacted by the family for help, is to raise the matter at the next meeting of the HSE West Regional health forum.
“I was in the Emergency Department on two occasions with this woman and her 84 year old mother and the way she was treated was just unreal. You couldn’t make it up,” said Cllr Conneely.
“Here was a woman, a very vulnerable woman who has special needs, and she was in a very, very distressed state and yet she was not admitted. You didn’t have to be a medical expert to know that she was in a highly distressed state and she was suffering from serious mental health problems and needed to be in the psychiatric unit.
“She tried to jump into the water at Blackrock and yet she wasn’t admitted. Eventually she was so desperate took an overdose and was admitted but that was after days of trying. The system has failed this woman – why is this allowed to happen. It was just so cruel,” added Cllr Conneely.
A fortnight ago the Galway City Tribune reported a mother of a twelve-year-old suicidal boy was told to ‘ring the guards’ and was turned away from UHG because there was no room at CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services).
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.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
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.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
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
