Another health Blog update by Donie

An average of one ‘thuggery’ incident every week at major hospital in Mayo

      
Gardai had to be called 25 times last year to deal with serious disturbances at the A&E unit of Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar, new figures show.

There were a further 34 ‘serious incidents’, mostly in accident and emergency, which did not require garda intervention, Denis Mullins, services manager at the hospital revealed.

Addressing members of the Mayo Joint Policing Committee in Castlebar yesterday (Monday), Mr. Mullins emphasised that in the context of numbers visiting the A&E – 33,000 last year – the incidence of difficulties was relatively low.
Mr. Mullins complimented A&E staff for the way they had dealt with serious difficulties, as well as security staff. He also praised gardaí, saying they had responded quickly to security alerts at the hospital.
Councillor Joe Mellett said the fact the issue of security at A&E was on the agenda of the Joint Policing Committee was an indication of the society we now live in.

Below cost selling of drink and the combination of alcohol with drugs was causing serious problems, Councillor Mellett stated.
He added that in his own public house (Mellett’s of Swinford) he was refusing to sell the combination of Red Bull mixer to young customers with vodka any longer.

Councillor Al McDonnell said access to the A&E unit for members of the public at the moment was too easy and he called for an assessment unit separate to A&E where patients could be initially processed.

His proposal was seconded by Councillor Mellett.
Winding up the discussion, Mr. Mullins said visiting policy at the hospital was being reviewed at the moment. He would not seek to trivialise 59 incidents in one year. “One incident is one too many,” he stated.

‘Too many suicides in Ireland’ are linked to prescribed anti-depression tablets says Dr Declan Gilsenan

          

Prof David Healy above gave evidence at Shane Clancy inquest case.

A former assistant state pathologist has expressed serious concern about the growing link between anti-depressants and suicide.

Dr Declan Gilsenan said in his 30-year experience carrying out postmortems, he had seen “too many suicides” after people had started taking the drugs and questioned whether GPs were over-prescribing them. 

He said the evidence is “more than anecdotal” and he is willing to meet the minister with responsibility for mental health on the issue, as part of a delegation organised by campaigner Leonie Fennell.Ms Fennell is the mother of Shane Clancy, who took his own life after killing his friend Sebastian Creane. He had just started a course of anti-depressants and it is believed he took more than the prescribed amount.

At Mr Clancy’s inquest, Dr Gilsenan testified that there were “toxic” levels of citalopram (brand name Celexa or Cipramil) in Mr Clancy’s blood. 

Ms Fennell has been campaigning since Mr Clancy’s death to raise awareness about the potential dangers of anti-depressants and is seeking a meeting with Kathleen Lynch, minister of state with responsibility for mental health.

She has enlisted the help of Dr Gilsenan and a former minister, who does not want to be named at this time, but who also has serious concerns regarding side-effects and over-prescribing of the drugs, whose popular brands include Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro Paxil and Celexa. 

“Based on my experience of doing postmortems on people where anti-depressants have been started fairly recently I would have concerns about the link to suicide,” Dr Gilsenan said. 

He said the argument will be made that people who start taking anti -depressants are of course depressed, and so could be at risk of suicide. “This will be used against what I am saying, but in my work I have just seen too many cases. There are things like accumulation in the system and dose-related concerns, where people go over a safe level, and I am willing to sit down with the minister and talk to her about these things.” 

Dr Gilsenan said doctors need to be more careful when prescribing anti-depressants and people need to be monitored more carefully. “It certainly seems GPs are using anti-depressants very frequently. These are very important drugs to psychiatry and if they are deemed to be harmful then it’s a big blow to them and that’s why they are defended so much.” 

Another expert, Professor David Healy, who also gave evidence at Mr Clancy’s inquest, maintains the pharmaceutical industry is being protected by psychiatry. 

In the case of Mr Clancy, the Irish College of Psychiatry came out in defence of the drugs at a time when families in grief were going through a high-profile inquest. 

Prof Healy said that although companies are legally obliged to agree that their drugs can cause people to take their lives, psychiatry is not. “Here they offer one of the greatest services they can to companies — they can and regularly do offer apologias for industry. They state in public that not only did the drugs not cause a problem, but that they cannot cause a problem,” he said. At Mr Clancy’s inquest, Prof Healy stated that in a small but significant minority of patients, using anti-depressants can give rise to violent behaviour.