A new Acute Mental Health Unit is coming to Letterkenny General Hospital. The HSE has signed a Public Works Contract, and building will begin in March, with an agreed construction programme of 12 months.
The 34-bed unit will include intensive care beds, observation beds, mother and baby bedrooms and ‘psychiatry for later life’ beds.
It will also include day recreational/therapy accommodation and crisis team accommodation.
The total floor area of the development is approximately 1,790m2, and work onsite will commence shortly. It will serve a catchment area of approximately 138,000 people.
The unit will be particularly geared towards the needs of young adults with mental illness (18-24 years), ‘taking into account the disturbing increase in suicide in young men in recent years’, the HSE has stated.
John Moloney, Minister for Equality, Disability and Mental Health at the Department of Health and Children, said the new unit was a significant development for mental health services in Donegal and the county.
Speaking on Monday, he added: “Some of my priorities for 2010 include: transferring acute admissions from St Brendan’s Hospital to Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown; a new acute unit at Beaumont Hospital to remove all acute admissions from St Ita’s Hospital, Portrane; a Community Nursing Unit in Clonmel and the closure of St Luke’s Hospital; a Community Nursing Unit in Mullingar and the closure of St Loman’s to mental health patients.”
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