Concern about mental health staff vacancies

There are 30 vacancies in the county’s mental health services, it has been revealed.

At a recent HSE Regional Health Forum, councillors were told that as of the end of last year, there was a staffing complement of 173 Whole Time Equivalents (WTE) in Roscommon Mental Health Services, with 30.5 WTE vacancies.

“This service makes every effort to fill temporary vacancies through the use of cross cover, locum cover and approved overtime,” the HSE said. “We are currently in the process of recruiting to these positions.” 

The information was supplied following a question by Cllr Tony Ward. He had asked if the mental health services in County Roscommon had a full complement of trained staff to deal with all the patients.

Cllr Ward said he was concerned as without a full complement of staff, service users, especially younger people, could be losing out.

“If people have mental health issues and if they seek help, I would like to think that they would get it,” the independent councillor said.

Mr Fitzmaurice replied that the care for those most in need was prioritised and that the service was there for people when they needed it. “And I can assure you that is still the case.”