Concerns about rising suicide rate in Mayo

A Mayo councillor has expressed concerns about rising numbers of suicide in Mayo, particularly among women. 

Castlebar-based Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne raised the matter at the recent meeting of the HSE Health Forum West-Northwest when he asked for an explanation as to how mental health cases are treated in Mayo.

In response, HSE management said: “An adult who is experiencing a severe mental health episode can be treated as an outpatient or inpatient in Mayo Mental Health Service, which has five general adult community mental health teams under the clinical leadership of a consultant psychiatrist. If deemed clinically necessary, inpatient treatment can take place in the Adult Mental Health Unit at Mayo University Hospital (MUH), a 32-bed unit for treatment of adults with acute illness, where inpatients are under the care of a multidisciplinary team led by a consultant psychiatrist and including nursing staff and occupational therapy, CBT, psychology and peer support and social work. If an adult presents to the Emergency Department at MUH, they receive a full bio psychosocial assessment from the consultant-led liaison team and/or the on-call psychiatry team. Decisions to admit or not to admit are made by a consultant psychiatrist. Currently for the adult mental health teams in Mayo, the average waiting time is approximately six weeks with urgent appointments offered within one to two days. "There is a 24-hour emergency assessment option available in MUH Emergency Department.” 

In relation to young people, HSE Area Health Manager for Mayo, Mary Warde, added that an emergency referral can be made by a GP during clinic hours to the community mental health team where they are triaged for appropriate care response. As to out-of-hours presentations, people are asked to present at the Emergency Department at MUH where they will be seen by the psychiatric non-consultant hospital doctor (working under the supervision of a consultant psychiatrist), who decides on the appropriate care response, including admission.

Welcoming the detailed response, Cllr Kilcoyne told HSE management he was particularly interested to know how the services works “because across the West of Ireland and specifically across Mayo, there has been a substantial increase in the number of people who have taken their life and there is a lot of concern about it, especially in relation to a rise of cases involving women". 

"It is a worrying trend, and people are very concerned that maybe the adequate resources needed are not there.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.