The RSAG met with Minister of State Tim O’Malley and Representatives of the Mid-Western Health Board on the 6^th December.
The Health Board officials advised us, that while they supported the need for the services proposed in our report, the centre as is outlined in the report was unacceptable, as it was "medically unsafe".
Instead they outlined a proposal for improved therapeutic services at the Regional Hospital. This service will include a Liaison Psychiatrist and three Psychotherapists who will operate within the hospital. They will provide crisis intervention service to those who attend the hospital after attempting suicide and patients who require psychological assessment. We are awaiting full details on this proposed service from the Health Board.

The RSAG response is that the phrase "medically unsafe" surprises us as an immanent Medical Doctor and Psychotherapist along with Health Board representatives were involved in producing this report.

We have advised the Minister that any improvement in the present services are welcome and we will judge this initiative on its merits. We also advised the minister that if this new service is to have any chance of succeeding it will have to operate outside the existing Psychiatric Services and should be housed outside of the hospital as there are known serious problems with the present Psychiatric Services and Unit 5B at the Mid-west Regional Hospital.

We will be meeting the newly appointed Liaison Psychiatrist early in the New Year and will update this site in future NewsLetters.

Over 2000 cards were placed on the Tree of Life in the Augustinian Church over the Christmas with up to 3000 names. Many cards had a number of names of loved ones who had died by suicide.
We hope that this initiative has helped some one along the way, it most certainly has highlighted the affect of suicide on families and communities in the Limerick Region.

We would like to thank Fr Liam Ryan, Joe McGlynn and the staff at the Augustinian for putting it all together for us.
We would also like to Thank Fr Pat Seaver and the Rev Jane Galbrith for a lovely service around the tree on 4^th December, which was attended by many families and friends of those who died by suicide.

Pictures and details on the Tree of Life can be seen on this site.

Members of RSAG will be travelling to Dublin in January 2005 to meet with other similar groups with the intention of combining our efforts on suicide prevention and support for those affected by suicide.