‘Staggering’ number of psychiatric care cases not accepted

A PRACTISING GP and TD has expressed his concern at how access to psychiatric care in North East Galway and Roscommon is being managed by the HSE.

Figures received via a Parliamentary Question (PQ) made by Roscommon-Galway TD, Dr. Martin Daly, show that 37 per cent of referrals to the Ballinasloe and Portumna Adult Community Mental Health Team were not accepted in the first half of 2026.

The figure for unaccepted referrals is 21 per cent in the Tuam and Loughrea Adult Community Mental Health Team for the same period. More than 50 per cent of referrals to the Roscommon and Boyle Adult Community Mental Health Team were not taken on.

The non-acceptance rate for the Psychiatry of Later Life service for people aged 65 and over in North Galway and Roscommon was 43 per cent for the first six month of the year.

Deputy Daly believes the figures for North East Galway and Roscommon are “staggering.”

“When an experienced GP refers a patient for specialist psychiatric assessment, there is a clinical reason for doing so,” said Deputy Daly, from Ballygar.

Specialist expertise needed

“We are not asking that every patient be taken into psychiatric care indefinitely. We are asking for access to the specialist expertise needed to make an informed clinical decision.

Deputy Daly has identified concerns among GPs that referrals are being declined following reviews of written referral letters, with patients not necessarily being provided with a direct psychiatric assessment.

“What concerns me is that a GP can identify the need for a specialist psychiatric opinion, yet the referral may be declined before that patient has even been assessed by the specialist service,” said the Fianna Fáil TD.

“We are general practitioners, not consultant psychiatrists. There are limits to what can appropriately be managed in general practice, and when we seek specialist advice, there must be a meaningful pathway to obtain it.

“When a referral is returned to a GP, what happens to that patient? Are they offered appropriate alternative care? Who ensures they receive the treatment they need? Or are they simply left trying to manage without the specialist assessment their doctor considered necessary?

“That is the fundamental question here. We need to know whether patients are falling through the cracks.”