Capacity issues at psychiatric centre in Mayo General Hospital

A psychiatric patient spent three nights in an extra bed in the middle of a five-bed ward with no curtains or privacy due to over-capacity problems at the acute mental health unit in Mayo General Hospital.

The centre, which has 32 beds, has a “significant difficulty” with over-capacity, according to inspectors from the Mental Health Commission, who carried out an unannounced inspection of the premises last October.

The executive clinical director said the focus of the service was not to refuse anyone who needed to be admitted. This problem was compounded by admitting people from the emergency department immediately the decision to admit is made.

Two other residents were admitted on October 12 and spent the night in a sitting room, contravening the regulation for privacy.

Management responded by saying they had a plan of care to “ensure respect and privacy” is protected at all times. The inspection report was otherwise largely positive.

Of 10 centres inspected nationwide, the most breaches were found at St Michael’s Unit at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork City. While the therapeutic service was described as “of a high standard” and feedback from residents was largely positive, one patient was critical of the lack of access to an outdoor space.

Another commented on the poor shower facilities. Inspectors were critical of deficits in individual care plans, four of which had no care and treatment identified.

The report said there were no adequate wheelchair-accessible toilet facilities and that there were just two showers to accommodate 18 residents. One shower was out of order on the day of inspection and had been for 11 days. It was repaired on the second day of inspection.

Management said the HSE had engaged an architect to provide a revised layout, “which would greatly improve the milieu of St Michael’s” unit.

An inspection at the Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Galway found a four-bed room on the female side was occupied by male residents who were required to walk through the female side to access the male toilets and showers. One resident reported sharing two toilets with 18 female residents.

Inspectors were also critical of the physical environment which they said did not enable patients to engage in “meaningful occupations”. They described a lack of space and a noisy environment and said the centre was “not in a good state of repair”. A new acute unit is under construction and is expected to be completed at the end of this year.