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Earlier this year, Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler told the HSE there was an "urgent need to progress the development” of the unit. Alamy Stock Photo
Maternal mental health
Mother and baby psychiatric unit confirmed for St Vincent’s — but it's years from opening
The unit was first recommended in 2017, but the minister confirmed it could be another four years before it is open.
MINISTER FOR MENTAL Health Mary Butler has confirmed to The Journal that Ireland’s first mother and baby psychiatric unit will not be delivered next year.
The unit was first recommended in 2017, but records obtained by The Journal Investigates showed that progress on the project has remained slow.
A mother and baby unit is a specialist inpatient psychiatric unit which would allow women experiencing severe mental health challenges to stay with their infant children.
The site of the unit at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin has been known for many years, but as of last month the location had not yet been determined despite multiple feasibility studies looking at where to place it in the grounds of the hospital.
Earlier this year, the minister told the HSE there as an “urgent need to progress the development” of the unit.
Asked about the unit at the Department of Health’s post-budget press conference, Butler said the unit is very important, adding that she discussed that matter last week with Brian O’Connell, the HSE’s National Director Head of Strategic Health Infrastructure and Capital Delivery.
The minister confirmed that the unit will be located at St Vincent’s Hospital, stating that the board of the hospital has now agreed.
She added that some of the adult eating disorder beds for the Dublin region will also be located at the hospital.
However, asked if the mother and baby unit will be delivered in 2027, some 10 years after the recommendation was first made, the minister said it would not be ready next year.
“I don’t expect it to open next year,” she said, stating that it is part of a three-to-four-year plan.
Butler said the building the unit will be in will be located on a “tight site” on the hospital complex, and it will also house a new department of psychiatry at St Vincent’s Hospital.
Between 2020 and 2024, there were 80 admissions to psychiatric hospitals in Ireland where the primary diagnosis was related to pregnancy, according to figures obtained by our team from the National Psychiatric Inpatient Reporting System.
The Journal Investigates spoke with almost 40 women across the country who had experienced mental health challenges related to their pregnancy.
Many of these women expressed difficulty in accessing care from Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services (SPMHS), which are linked to maternity hospitals.
With reporting by Conor O’Carroll
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