Minister of State Jim Daly says a number of measures have been taken to alleviate overcrowding at the Department of Psychiatry in University Hospital Waterford.
The Minister with responsibility for mental health was speaking as he visited the Department yesterday.
Jim Daly revealed the HSE have purchased an additional six beds at a private centre and a number of patients who have been in the unit long term will be transferred to more suitable accommodation.
He acknowledged that the Department was in the news for the wrong reasons since October.
Photos emerged after the Bank Holiday weekend showing patients sleeping on the floor and on chairs due to overcrowding.
The General Manager of Waterford/Wexford Mental Health Services, Gerry Mealy, says there hasn't been any capacity issues in recent weeks.
Minister Daly says morale has improved significantly and that changes have been made:
"A number of patients will be transferred that are very long term here. Obviously that's in association with their families, with their clinical teams and all of that, and nothing will be done too suddenly. We have to be very careful and conscious. And then we have purchased additional capacity as well in a private provider; that's keeping six beds open on an ongoing basis for people from the Waterford area, to accommodate any further surges in presentations that might present."
