Consultants agree to join mental health tribunals

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney last night welcomed the decision by consultant psychiatrists to take their places on mental health tribunals set up to review involuntary detentions of mental patients.

The tribunals will review the cases of up to 3,500 people detained involuntarily in psychiatric hospitals in Ireland each year.

“I am pleased that the Irish Hospital Consultants Association and the Irish Medical Organisation are now committed to co-operating with the full implementation of the Mental Health Act, 2001, including the participation of their consultant psychiatrist members on Mental Health Tribunals,” the minister said at the end of what had been a bitter row between both sides.