1/5 Maeve O. 2 years ago on Google • 8 reviews
I
was
a
remote
patient
here
in
July
2020
and
would
advise
caution
to
anyone
seeing
treatment
here.
The
psychiatrist
I
was
assigned
to,
a
Dr
McManus,
showed
in
the
two
times
I
engaged
with
her
remotely
in
Microsoft
teams
meetings
zero
empathy,
compassion
or
basic
clinical
judgement
and
she
was
extremely
rude
to
a
family
member
whom
I
had
asked
to
be
present
with
me
on
the
second
occasion.
I
was
so
unhappy
at
her
approach
that
having
debated
going
into
hospital
under
her
care
for
a
few
days
I
ultimately
decided
to
ask
for
a
change
of
medical
team
and
get
treatment
as
an
outpatient.
This
was
largely
because
of
the
delay
of
three
weeks
in
getting
admitted
from
my
initial
contact
requesting
admission.
I
had
also
been
told
by
admissions
that
a
change
of
team
was
not
a
normal
request
so
It
appeared
that
to
me
that
another
few
weeks
could
be
taken
off
the
allotted
100
days
on
my
plan
while
waiting
for
a
new
consultant
.
I
thought
it
would
be
wiser
to
discharge
myself
and
wait
for
an
outpatient
appointment
so
that
I
would
have
sufficient
days
available
if
I
needed
to
spend
an
extended
period
in
hospital
for
the
rest
of
the
year.
The
response
of
the
Clinical
Director
to
my
request
was
a
four
line
letter
advising
me
to
re-engage
with
my
local
mental
health
service.
I
had
sought
treatment
in
SPMHS
because
my
local
Day
Hospital
service
had
effectively
shut
down
due
to
the
pandemic
and
I
had
put
the
psychiatrist
on
notice
of
this.
For
the
12
days
I
was
a
remote
patient,
my
insurer
was
charged
€7,717.44
-
the
same
as
a
patient
who
was
physically
present
in
the
hospital.
I
don’t
know
how
a
facility
can
justify
charging
a
remote
patient
the
same
as
an
in-patient
when
a
remote
patient
incurs
no
catering,
cleaning
or
maintenance
costs.
I
pointed
this
out
to
their
Finance
Department
and
was
informed
that
SPMHS
has
the
full
agreement
of
their
insurance
partners
for
this
and
that
as
it
received
no
statutory
funding
it
had
to
charge
for
its
services.
For
a
charge
of
nearly
€8,000.00
I
had
a
40
minute
initial
phone
consultation
with
a
registrar,
a
ten
minute
call
with
a
pharmacist,
two
half
hour
appointments
with
the
psychiatrist
I
was
assigned
to,
a
phone
call
with
a
nurse
each
day
that
generally
lasted
no
longer
than
10
minutes
in
which
I
was
asked
a
series
of
rote
questions,
a
list
of
online
activities
such
a
pre-recorded
lectures
most
of
which
you
could
get
for
free
on
YouTube
with
better
reception,
a
phone
call
with
a
social
worker
for
feedback
on
why
I
had
requested
a
change
of
team
…that
was
it.
I
don’t
have
anything
positive
to
say
about
SPMHS
except
that
the
nurses
I
spoke
to
were
decent
–
even
their
administrative
staff
were
incompetent
-
I
was
told
by
one
person
in
administration
that
she
did
not
know
the
email
address
of
the
person
she
told
me
I
had
to
contact
to
request
a
change
of
team
so
I
had
to
located
it
myself
on
their
web
site.
She
also
told
me
that
the
charge
per
night
was
€500.00.
Subsequently
I
was
informed
by
their
Finance
Department
that
it
was
€608.18
per
night.
When
the
bill
was
settled
by
my
health
insurer
six
months
later
I
discovered
that
the
charge
was
€643.12
when
I
broke
down
the
final
amount
into
12
nights.
By
dint
of
persistent
phoning
I
eventually
managed
to
access
treatment
on
the
public
system
where
I
was
treated
with
the
basic
respect,
compassion
and
dignity
that
had
been
lacking
in
St
Patricks.
I
wouldn’t
normally
write
public
reviews
particularly
on
such
a
private
matter
but
I
feel
so
strongly
about
the
way
I
was
treated
(particularly
during
lockdown
in
the
middle
of
a
pandemic)
that
I
am
posting
it
here.
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