There are plans to provide seven days a week mental health service at the new primary care centre in Waterford City.

Consultant psychiatrists, nurses, junior doctors, psychologists and social workers will soon be based at the facility on John’s Hill.

Several clinics are already taking place at the centre.

Peter Kelly is the Assistant Director of Nursing at Waterford Mental Health Services.

“Initially while we’re bedding in we will provide a five-day service. I would expect within the next two to three months at the very latest we will offer a seven-day service here in Waterford.

“That’s the first day hospital that will have a seven-day facility. That’s very important for the clients and it will take pressure off the GP’s, it will take pressure off the Emergency Departments, that there are somewhere else people can go to for assessments.”

Peter Kelly says they want to keep people out of emergency departments in hospitals if possible.

“We will have people on site that will be able to do assessments, we will have trained staff here who are more than capable of carrying out assessments of clients.

He used the example of someone going to their GP or Caredoc out of hours, saying that in most cases they “end up in the ED Department” if they need an assessment.

“You could be waiting long hours due to pressures out there. If we have a service out here [John’s Hill] that can take some pressure off that and we have people available to the assessments and that’s the plan going forward. We will have people here seven-days a week.”