A LIMERICK woman who was discharged from Ward 5B at University Hospital Limerick last week has criticised Minister Kathleen Lynch’s recent comments about improvements to the psychiatric facility.
Mary Milburn (61) from Patrickswell, who spent two weeks in the unit suffering with depression, says the Minister “is joking when she says things will improve in 5B”.
In an email to Leona O’Callaghan, another Limerick woman who spoke publicly about her experiences in 5B, Minister Lynch said that “significant funding” had been allocated to mental health services.
She also revealed that a full-time activation nurse had been appointed to run the therapeutic programme on 5B and that work is currently underway on a high observation area with predominantly single bedrooms.
However, Ms Milburn said: “I never saw the activation nurse that she said was appointed.”
“I am still having panic attacks and bad dreams since I came home. Instead of a place for recovery, I would describe it more like a concentration camp,” she added.
Ms Milburn also claims that there are issues in relation to hygiene and health and safety in the unit, such as an “overflowing sanitary bin” and “large boiling pots of tea on the tables at lunch and supper times, which to me is a very dangerous weapon”.
“I suffered terrible verbal abuse day after day from some of the patients, yet when I complained to the staff they said you have to put up with that sort of thing in here. One nurse said to me: ‘Perhaps you should ask the doctor to discharge you if it’s not suiting you in here’.
“I must say that I met some lovely patients in there that I could talk to, but I was terrified of some as well. Most of the staff were nice but some were not. We should be shown the same respect as any other person with any other illness. Yes, I suffer from mental health illness but I am still a human being, I have not lost my intelligence and neither am I mad,” she concluded.
