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).