Community psychiatric nurse visits
Spring said cuts to allowances had reduced community psychiatric nurses’ visits and asked the Minister to examine the effect on rehabilitation; the Minister said staff deployment was for the Southern Health Board, while urging implementation of the national plan.
In regard to the document entitled Planning for the Future in respect of the existing general psychiatric services within the Southern Health Board area, is the Minister aware that psychiatric community nurses are currently curtailing their activities on account of cutbacks in their allowances that, whereas they used to travel and visit patients three or four days weekly, they now curtail such visits to approximately two days weekly, thus gravely reducing the services available to such patients back in the community in the course of rehabilitation? Would the Minister examine the position and, if possible, arrange to have their allowances increased?
Comment on this
How the Southern Health board utilise the time of their staff is primarily a matter for them. I am concerned that each of the health boards — and there tends to be a different response on the part of each of them — should implement the proposals in the document Planning for the Future on the psychiatric services.