Dirty hospitals, hours alone: state of mental care exposed
A GRIM picture of our psychiatric services, where many patients must live in dirty hospital units and endure hours of seclusion behind locked doors is revealed in a damning report today.
Some children are left at risk with delays of 15 months to see a psychiatrist.
The physical care of patients has worsened, while the number of children who had to be placed in adult units last year rose from 68 in 2016 to 82.
The hard-hitting report from watchdog the Mental Health Commission warned “there is a disturbingly high number of in-patient units that were dirty and poorly maintained, with associated implications for infection control”.
Commission chairman John Saunders said: “Progress in many significant areas has either been non-existent or slow, leading to the continued provision of poor quality services for people who use mental health services and their family members.”
The report revealed:
■ Many patients have no access to an outside space, cannot make a cup of tea or have limited use of their mobile phone;
■ Seclusion of a patient was used in 27 units last year. In one case a CCTV image of the person in seclusion could be seen by the public outside the centre. In some cases the seclusion room was dirty;
■ The widespread use of restrictive practices, including physical restraint, is “normalised” due to lack of staff and inappropriate training;
■ Children’s community
services suffer from inadequate staffing and variable funding. It can range from €40 a head in one area to €92 in another, with no rationale for the differences and inequality of care;
■ Children in mental distress are having to attend hospital A&E departments, leaving staff in a desperate search to find an in-patient bed;
■ There is just one child and adolescent emergency inpatient bed in the country.
Chief inspector Susan Finnerty said: “While there were some areas of the mental health service that provided good care, I have a number of concerns about the provision of mental
health services in Ireland.
“Of great concern is that I found the services for children and adolescents were generally inadequate, poorly funded and
‘Forgotten by both the mental health services and by society’
not responsive to the needs of young people and their families.”
The report highlighted how the transfer of many vulnerable patients from outdated Victorian
hospitals has failed to bring about the improvement in their quality of care.
They are living in 24-hour community residences that are not subject to regulatory oversight.
More than 1,300 adults with mental illness are living in these that continue to be institutionalised, offering residents little or no rehabilitation or prospect of moving to more independent living.
The report warned they appear to be “forgotten by both the mental health services and by society”.
Rosemary Smyth, the commission’s interim chief
executive, said improvement was too often reactive rather than proactive.
There is also disappointment at the care plans, which are supposed to be tailored to the individual patient.
However, too often this is just a “paper exercise” which does little to address recovery.
Mr Saunders stressed: “Reform of the Mental Health Act 2001 is now a matter of urgency as significant numbers of people are now using unregulated mental health care day and residential services. This situation increases dramatically the risk of abusive or neglectful incidents occurring.”