Mental health body delay criticised

THE delay in establishing tribunals to examine if psychiatric patients detained against their will are fit for release has been criticised by the former inspector of mental hospitals.

Dr Dermot Walsh described the failure to set up the tribunal system as "fairly worrying".

The tribunals, legislated for in the Mental Health Act, 2001, have the power to order the release of a patient detained involuntarily. However, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has advised its consultant psychiatrist members not to take part in the tribunals because of tight time-frames in which to carry out their work.