Patients at €220m Central Mental Hospital given extra duvets due to 'Baltic' room temperatures

The National Forensic Mental Health Service site in Portrane, Co Dublin

Staff at the Central Mental Hospital in Portrane have had to provide patients with extra duvets due to “Baltic” temperatures caused by continuous issues with the heating system at the €220 million facility.

Records obtained by the Irish Mirror also reveal that some residents have resorted to wearing “a number of layers” at night to combat the cold, and black mould is developing in parts of the hospital.

Complaints regarding deficiencies with the heating system at the state-of-the-art facility started shortly after it was officially opened in November 2022, with temperatures as low as 15 degrees reported in one room.

The Health Service Executive’s own website warns the public that “if the temperature falls below 16 degrees, you could be at risk of hypothermia”.

Staff members have continued to complain about what one described as “Baltic” conditions at the hospital, and the Irish Mirror revealed last November that a “frozen” patient had sent a hand-written note to management, begging them to fix the problem.

However, the HSE has repeatedly insisted that there are “no ongoing issues” with the heating system in Portrane, where around two-thirds of the patients have been found not guilty of crimes for reason of insanity, or have been deemed unfit to stand trial. Last week, it stated again that the system was “operating as required”.

Internal records suggest otherwise, however, as staff made 37 formal complaints about room temperatures at the hospital during the four months preceding March 2024.

Excessively cold conditions were reported in bedrooms, changing rooms, an interview room, and a seclusion observation room; and several complaints noted that the same issues had been raised previously without being resolved.

“Patients have complained of Room 14 and Room 12 being very cold, attempts were made to increase heating via the wall. Second duvets have been given to patients,” wrote one staff member.

Another noted that a patient had to “wear a number of layers at night time to keep warm” due to the icy conditions, while a third request for heating issues to be rectified was signed off with “warm regards (excuse the pun)”.

While many bedrooms appeared to have insufficient heating, some had the opposite problem, with staff reporting that a number of patients were “unable to sleep” due to excessive heat – even with the doors and windows left open.

There were also complaints regarding a “strong smell of sewage” coming from an air ventilation fan, which one staff member sought to have “turned off permanently” because the “foul smell” was a recurrent issue.

The HSE’s insistence that the heating system has functioned satisfactorily since the Central Mental Hospital opened is also at odds with the fact that more than €10,000 was spent stripping out and replacing heating coil last January.

Reports that patients were having to endure abnormally cold conditions in the new hospital prompted the Mental Health Commission to write to the National Forensic Mental Health Service in May 2023.

And now Sinn Féin spokesman for mental health, Mark Ward, has written to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, calling for the situation to be rectified as a matter of urgency.

“I am very concerned about the amount of complaints from patients in the Central Mental Hospital in Portrane pertaining to being cold,” he told the Irish Mirror.

“My understanding is that the HSE advises that room temperature should be about 20 degrees… if temperatures are falling below this range, then this needs to be addressed immediately.

“I have written to the minister and I’d like this situation rectified urgently.”

A spokesman for the HSE said again that the heating at the hospital has been operating “as per the specifications of the system”.

“The heating system in the Central Mental Hospital is operating as required,” he said.

“Individual patients may have preferences of temperatures they wish to have. These are managed within the heating system controls in each bedroom and these can be adjusted with limitations of six degrees by the patient.

“In some instances, patients have reported feeling the temperature is low and in other instances feeling the temperature is high. On review, the rooms have always been at the agreed temperature.

“We can affirm that the heating has been operating as per the specifications of the system and where a patient reports any concerns to staff of a temperature variation, these instances are examined,” he added.

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