The Minister for Health Jenifer Carroll MacNeill is to visit Clonmel today.
The Minister is visiting University Hospital Tipperary(UHT) to officially open the Slievenamon Unit. The Unit and the refurbished building provides Tipperary University Hospital with an updated department that supports the delivery of safe patient care. The unit consists of 33 inpatient beds, 6 single ensuite rooms and 9 three-bedded rooms with ensuite.
The building, formerly known as St Michaels is now linked to the main hospital building by the construction of a long corridor, and was identified as a quick way to add bed capacity. The project began in 2021.
The building had provided beds as Psychiatric unit but these beds were closed despite a strong local community and political campaign and effectively transferred to Ennis and Kilkenny in 2012.The demand for Mental Health services in University Hospital Tipperary Hospital continues – there were 891 mental health assessments of patients presenting with self-harm or suicidal ideation to UHT emergency department in 2023 according to the report on Acute Mental Healthcare in Hospital Emergency Departments in Ireland: A National Survey(2024) published by the Office of the Inspector of Mental Health Services yesterday.
