Who will be there for us if St Michael's closes, asks service user Cindy
Service users of St Michael's acute psychiatric unit in Clonmel are pleading with the HSE and Minister for Health to keep the unit open - because for them it is a safe place in their darkest hour.
Service users of St Michael's acute psychiatric unit in Clonmel are pleading with the HSE and Minister for Health to keep the unit open - because for them it is a safe place in their darkest hour.
Cindy Breen, from Gortanhoe, is a service user of St Michael's. She told 'The Nationalist' this week that she is speaking out for her fellow patients, out-patients "and even patients who may not realise they need this acute psychiatric unit."
They say they had no chance to voice their opinion but they need St Michael's.
"We need to know there is a safe place we can turn to in our darkest hour," Cindy says, and she asks the questions that she, and her fellow service users want answers to, including: "Who is going to be there to stop us jumping, cutting, overdosing?
"What happens when go to Kilkenny and it's full or where are the patients from the Kilkenny region supposed to go?"
Cindy decided to speak out this week after talking to her fellow patients at St Michael's. Before the recent public meeting in support of the hospital, held by the Save Our Hospital Committee, 47 of St Michael's service users signed a letter calling for the retention of St Michael's's Unit. They are also planning to join the protest march in Clonmel on March 27.
"St Michael's has and continues to offer and fulfil any promise or suggestion they have made to the service users to the best of their ability," Cindy said of the unit at South Tipperary General Hospital. She went on to praise the doctors who work there and said they are not given enough recognition for their work.
Describing what St Michael's Unit and its staff mean to its service users, Cindy explained that it is where they receive "help, support, advice, occupational therapy for example art therapy, relaxation, talks on depression and from past patients about their experience, someone who will listen.
"I believe 50% of our recovery is medical and the rest is made up of time that is given to us, be it as a group or one-to-one."
Cindy told 'The Nationalist' that the patient advocate has explained Vision for Change to them, the changes it will bring, the financial investment and the security of jobs for medical staff, but the questions she and her fellow service users still want answered are: "Will there be enough manpower to cover callouts? Will there be a central base to come to? Will there be a back-up service?
"Can they guarantee our safety - will they get to the patient in time?
"Have they professional, experienced, qualified staff to listen and talk to self users on the phones or will it consist of students just out of college with no experience?"
She is asking the HSE not to make promises that it can not stand by.
"This is why I say we need St Michael's acute psychiatric unit to stay open. We need to be able to see the person we are talking to and who is empathising with us. We need to know we are not just a number.
"The new system may work but the medical team or people on the phone are not going to have our past or present files available on request but a short note on the service users. Most importantly the medical team here in St Michael's know and care about the service users and that is a very important factor to us.
"They need to know we need it."
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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