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	Girl was left in a distressed state for five hours in hospital, mother says</p>
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	The Health Service Executive has confirmed it had made a psychiatrist available to assess a 16-year-old suicidal autistic girl after she left an emergency department in a highly distressed state when she was not seen for over five hours by medical staff on Wednesday night.</p>
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	The HSE issued a statement confirming a senior psychiatrist had contacted the girl&rsquo;s mother on Thursday to discuss a number of assessment options. It said there would be a psychiatrist available at Cork University Hospital throughout the day to assess the girl.</p>
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	The HSE statement came in the wake of the woman contacting the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork&rsquo;s Red FM to highlight her predicament after the girl tried to take her own life on Wednesday night.</p>
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	&ldquo;This is my daughter . . . in the waiting room in A&amp;E. She is autistic, suicidal and obviously distressed. She was left for five hours, bawling crying on the floor,&rdquo; said the girl&rsquo;s mother in an email to the radio show.</p>
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	&ldquo;The staff had no bed to give her, no comfort, not even as much as a glass of water. When other patients started to make a fuss, they gave her a trolley. By this time, my daughter was so distressed she was hysterical.</p>
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	&ldquo;She told the consulting doctor several times if we left she will kill herself. Their advice - take her home. I&rsquo;m now en route home with my daughter, crying inconsolably in the back seat of the car. We left A&amp;E with her bawling crying and everyone staring at us with concern.&rdquo;</p>
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	The woman, who asked for her details not to be released, said there was no help available for her daughter who has been self-harming.</p>
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	The HSE said it will provide all necessary medical interventions and support required following the assessment by the senior psychiatrist from the HSE&rsquo;s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team.</p>
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	It also said an inpatient child and adolescent facility in Cork can be accessed if deemed clinically necessary.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/psychiatrist-available-to-assess-suicidal-autistic-girl-says-hse-1.2119240">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/psychiatrist-available-to-assess-suicidal-autistic-girl-says-hse-1.2119240</a></p>
