Inadequate psychology service exposed by damning letter

A LACK of full-time psychology service provision in the Castlebar Community Mental Health Team is having a severe negative impact, according to a consultant psychiatrist at Mayo University Hospital (MUH), writes Claire McNamara.

The damning letter, which was written in January 2019, was released under the Freedom of Information Act to The Connaught Telegraph.

The consultant psychiatrist at MUH wrote the letter on behalf of the sector 1 team and sent it to the Mayo Mental Health Management Team, which highlights the inadequacy of the service and the risks for both service users and staff.

"The lack of full-time psychology service provision in our area is in contravention of national policy, and is having a negative impact.

"The current crossover service is inadequate. Many of our service users have to wait significant periods to access the psychology service, which is not acceptable.

"The service users that are referred to psychology are generally those who are in the most distress and have self-harming or suicidal behaviours. A lengthy waiting time for such a service is, in our minds, unacceptable.

"To have a psychologist working with this level of distress without them being fully embedded in the team is potentially risky for service users and staff.

"An additional risk occurs when service users on the psychology waiting list have to be maintained on other team members’ case loads, effectively reducing their efficiency and ensuring the service user is not accessing the most appropriate service in a timely manner.

"As well as offering therapeutic input, psychologists also play a pivotal role in assessment work on the team. They are the only professionals qualified to carry out various psychometric, personality and neuropsychological testing. Their input around differential diagnosis is invaluable on the team, as is their specific expertise in the diagnostic process of some presentations, including Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder.

"Psychologists also offer services to the MDT in terms of consultation, co-working and training. This role is one that is severely restricted if there is not a psychologist on the ground to provide such input."

At the time they called for the reinstatement of the full-time psychologist on the team with immediate effect.

The HSE has confirmed that a full-time psychologist was not recruited on to the sector 1 team. However, crossover from other psychologists in the other sectors remains in place, but they declined to comment any further on the matter.