Galway City Council has unanimously backed a motion calling for the upgrade of University Hospital Galway (UHG) to be designated as \u201ccritical infrastructure\u201d, while also supporting the establishment of a dedicated mental health A&E on the hospital grounds.<\/p>\n
The motion, proposed by councillor Alan Cheevers at the council’s monthly meeting, was passed with cross-party support as the Government\u2019s Critical Infrastructure Bill progresses through the legislative process.<\/p>\n
An amendment introduced by councillor Helen Ogbu to include support for a mental health A&E at UHG was also unanimously approved.<\/p>\n
The proposal comes amid an ongoing campaign by the family of Adam Loughnane, who died after presenting at University Hospital Galway while feeling suicidal.<\/p>\n
Adam, aged 34, went to the emergency department on February 11, 2025, and repeatedly told staff he wanted to end his life.<\/p>\n
After being assessed by a triage nurse, he was advised to wait for the liaison psychiatry team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, around 90 minutes later, he left the hospital and ended his life nearby.<\/p>\n
His family has since campaigned for the introduction of separate emergency facilities for people experiencing a mental health crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They are arguing that overcrowded emergency departments are unsuitable environments for vulnerable psychiatric patients.<\/p>\n
The campaign by the Loughnanes for dedicated mental health A&Es has gathered significant national support, with more than 23,000 people signing a petition backing the proposal.<\/p>\n
The initiative has also received support from the Mental Health Commission, Mental Health Reform, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, and the Irish Patients Association.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the Galway West by-election, Adam\u2019s brother Joe Loughnane called on candidates to publicly support the proposal and said his brother\u2019s death \u201creflected wider systemic failings in emergency mental healthcare\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n Our campaign has continuously pointed out that Adam\u2019s death was not the fault of any one staff member. The system failed him.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cThe medical professionals who tried to help Adam are overworked, underpaid and understaffed. They can only do so much with the facilities provided to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Loughnane said he believes his brother may still be alive had he been directed towards a more appropriate setting specifically designed for people in mental health crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had done everything right, but ultimately he was failed when he needed help the most,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Loughnane added that dedicated Mental Health A&Es could provide safer and more therapeutic environments for people in crisis and has described Adam\u2019s death as part of a wider issue affecting families across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in suicidal distress are being ignored and stigmatised by inappropriate healthcare environments providing inadequate care. This has to be the line in the sand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Galway City Council has unanimously backed a motion calling for the upgrade of University Hospital Galway (UHG) to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,410,411],"class_list":["post-453691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}