Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly

This morning.

An open letter to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly from mental health service user Lisa Naylor.

Minister Donnelly,

‘I am a 35 year old mother of one living in Dublin. I won’t bore you with a lengthy backstory, but I have struggled with my mental health for the majority of my life. Depression, self-harm and a personality disorder are just a few of my difficulties. As a result, I have been accessing public and private psychiatric services for 17 years. I have been linked in with my current local mental health clinic in Coolock since 2014.

At the beginning of this year I suffered a pregnancy loss which negatively impacted my mental state. Shortly after this, Covid-19 hit and we went into lockdown and I deteriorated further, relapsing into old, maladaptive coping strategies.

Fortunately, the registrar assigned to me was incredible and offered plenty of support and guidance. She scheduled phone appointments with me every 2-4 weeks (if you aren’t aware, this is considered intensive support by the HSE).

I was still struggling to stay afloat, like many people during this pandemic, but at least I had that lifeline – the appointments with my doctor. Being honest and open with someone over the phone was difficult, but I knew my doctor and trusted her so it made the Covid restricted appointments easier. My depression was worsening but I was coping; I was surviving, with help.

When the phone rang on the 3rd of August I answered immediately. I was in desperate need of that supportive and rational voice on the other end of the phone. However the voice on the other end was unfamiliar.

The registrars had rotated in between my appointments and now a complete stranger was asking me how I was feeling. I don’t think I can accurately describe how unsettling and jarring this was, being asked to show my emotional scars and vulnerability to a stranger. A stranger who hadn’t read my file. The appointment ended with them telling me to continue doing what the previous doctor had advised. It was a waste of time.

My next appointment was scheduled for 3 months’ time. The intensive support had been withdrawn.

Life carried on, Covid continued, my depression and anxiety increased. I had another pregnancy loss. Then lockdown 2 was announced and the months of loneliness, despair and fear overtook me. I sobbed until there were no more tears, until I nearly threw up. Sharp objects started to look so appealing; I drank and ate more trying to quell the growing despair.

My appointment was scheduled for the 3rd of November and I knew I needed to speak up; to give my new doctor a chance to help me. I had to try.

I was sitting in the kitchen, my toddler running riot behind me, when the phone rang. I took a deep breath and readied myself to be honest and forthright. I told them I was struggling, that I was anxious, that I had had a miscarriage; that I was struggling. When asked about a scale of 1-10, 1 being the worst, I explained I was a 3 every day. This is a snapshot of the response I received:

“How is your child?”

“I hope you haven’t been binge-eating”

“Have you ever self-harmed?”

“Do you get irritable? Make sure you don’t let that turn to anger as it wouldn’t be nice for your husband.”

“Just wrap your child up warmer and bring him for a walk” (He’s 2 and it’s November)

“I was going to discharge you today, but given what you’ve said I will give you one more appointment in 3 months”

Minister, can you please explain to me how, in the space of a few months and in the midst of a pandemic, I went from intensive support to being ready for discharge? How a person who has never met me can decide that I no longer need help? A person who didn’t even know that I self-harm, who was more concerned with my son and husband than me. This is what happens when you underfund a vital service: Doctors who are poorly trained and/or have no incentive to do good work.

At this point in my life I am a veteran of the HSE’s mental health services so I was able to temper my reaction to being so dismissed. If that had happened 5 years ago, my response to being so horribly disregarded would been catastrophic.

I now apparently have one remaining appointment in the clinic in Coolock. I am severely depressed and fighting not to lapse back into self-harm and my eating disorder. I feel helpless and rejected.

How many other patients are experiencing similar feelings, with doctors being rotated when appointments are phone only? How can you expect people who are mentally ill to trust in a stranger when they can’t even trust themselves?

The mental health service was in dire straits before Covid-19 and we as a country were losing too many people to suicide as a result. If the current system continues, if you keep expecting those that are suffering (the ones lucky enough to be given access to psychiatric services) to ask a stranger for help through a phone, the number of suicides will rise exponentially.

You need to do better, for those that cannot do better on their own.’

Regards,

Lisa Naylor

RollingNews

Medical campaigners John Wall and Vicky Phelan

This morning.

The Irish Examiner has seen hundreds of pages of analysis from the Department of Health and Department of Education that show the departments ‘are closely monitoring social media and keeping detailed accounts of topics that have criticised and praised them throughout the pandemic’.

Via Irish Examiner:

Despite hundreds of pages of analysis, only two are dedicated to misinformation.

Certain journalists or columnists come up repeatedly in the Department of Health’s analysis, including but not limited to staff from the Irish Examiner, RTÉ, Newstalk, Virgin Media, as well as other major newspapers and public figures.

Notable health professionals including Dr Holohan feature extensively, as does Dr Maithiú Ó Tuthuail, who later found himself at the centre of a political scandal over leaked documents.

Campaigners Dr Ilona Duffy, John Wall, and Vicky Phelan all feature in the analysis of critical tweets about cancer screenings.

Government monitoring social media of journalists, Tony Holohan, Vicky Phelan and others (Irish Examiner)

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

Dan Boyle

This week Cork City Council moved into the twenty first century with our first ever live streamed council business meeting. It was an interesting experience, not without some gremlins, but still an useful exercise in public access.

Previous meetings had been time restricted, because of COVID, leading to a forty eight page agenda. Five hours later we had more than tested the patience of anyone who had chosen to link in.

For those who came on to identify elements of Ballymagash in the deliberations of the Council, there were some items that could be portrayed in that way.

The longest debate of the night was on whether statues of War of Independence figures – Collins, MacSwiney and MacCurtain – should be erected on Patrick Street. I found the amount of time discussing this to be frustrating, as I suspect did many of those watching.

Despite that some that useful thoughts came from the discussion. The role of statues as tools of commemoration was rightly questioned. More seriously, arguing for further acknowledgement of male heroes, from a period in history that has yet to reflect at all the role of women, was more marked.

Earlier in the meeting we had approved planning for three infill housing projects. These had all involved a period of public consultation. As these applications often are, they were not without controversy. The consultations, with each of these projects, brought about considerable changes. The public interaction of these consultations was the catalyst for those changes.

Some objections would have remained. They probably never could be met. It is to the credit of local area councillors that they rose above continuing objections to make their decision solely based on housing need.

In my local electoral area another planning decision was in facilitating a pedestrian/cyclist access to an amenity park, where such access has been severely restricted.

On the surface this might not seem the most important issue. When our political debates are more influenced by what happens at a national level, we often forget that it is the small physical changes that can matter more to people.

Local government can be mundane. It’s activities can often invite justifiable derision. Without it, however, many everyday essential public services would become harder to provide.

Our political system is evolving. It is tentatively moving towards better public access and engagement. We need to be going further and faster in making these changes. The further we go in making these changes the better we can make our systems of government.

The speed of these changes will depend on how soon we are willing to put those elements of administrative culture, which have prevented change in the past, aside.

Administrative change in Ireland is still overly influenced by a philosophy of being risk adverse. An overriding attachment to secrecy still remains. A greater need level of trust, especially of the general public, needs to be created. A willingness to try and sometimes and fail has to become accepted.

Over my thirty years in public life I have seen some changes, but they have been far too few. I’m encouraged that there is now a greater capacity for change that is coming as much from council officials as it is from elected councillors.

Most of the work will remain mundane, necessary, occasionally worthy. But we can do it better and we should want to.

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator and serves as a Green Party councillor on Cork City Council. His column appears here every Thursday. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle

RollingNews

Druids Jan and Karen Tetteroo (left) with farmer Donal Bohane and the ancient stone

A stone circle in Skibbereen
Is potentially now a crime scene
As a stone came unstuck
And may have brought bad luck
But now stands tall as it’s always been

John Moynes

Pic: Southern Star

Behold: Westerhout 5, aka, the Soul Nebula, but not as it’s normally seen. To wit:

The dark and brooding dust clouds near the top, outlined by bright ridges of glowing gas, are cataloged as IC 1871. About 25 light-years across, the telescopic field of view spans only a small part of the much larger Heart and Soul nebulae. At an estimated distance of 6,500 light-years the star-forming complex lies within the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy, seen in planet Earth’s skies toward the constellation Cassiopeia. An example of triggered star formation, the dense star-forming clouds in the Soul Nebula are themselves sculpted by the intense winds and radiation of the region’s massive young stars. In the featured image, stars have been digitally removed to highlight the commotion in the gas and dust.

(Image: Jason Guenzel)

apod

Taoiseach Micheál Martin this afternoon in the Dáil at the Convention Centre

Meanwhile…

But that leaves two million of us prick-free.

Pause.

SAVE yourselves.

Earlier: One Jab

Broadsheet.ie