Day care benefits for psychiatric patients

A THIRD of people admitted to a psychiatric hospital could be treated as effectively in a day hospital and recover faster, the Mental Health Commission said yesterday.

Launching its research strategy in Dublin, the commission stressed that increased knowledge of how mental services work improved mental health and ensured value for money.

Research also strengthened any argument for the development of innovative mental health services and the improvement of current services.

Research consultant to the commission Dr Fiona Keogh said one-in-four people in Ireland would suffer from a mental health problem at some stage of their lives.

“Around a third of people who would normally be admitted to a psychiatric hospital can be treated as effectively and, in some cases, have better outcomes in a day hospital. The treatment also costs less,” she said.

Research is one of the six priorities of the commission, and its strategy is aimed at addressing a knowledge gap in the mental health services.

While funding for health research increased significantly in the last few years, mental health is in competition with all the other specialities.

Also, available research has had a limited impact on services and tends not to be disseminated very widely.

The commission’s research strategy covers all aspects of mental health and includes all those involved in mental health services including service users and carers.

Dr Keogh said they had already taken a number of steps to improve funding for mental health research and to provide systems for recording and dissemination research.

She said Prof Patrick Wall, former chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and a visiting professor of food safety at University College Dublin, has agreed to chair the commission’s Mental Health Research Committee.

Other members of the committee have yet to be appointed but it is expected they will represent service users and health professionals.

The commission is an independent statutory body established in 2002 to promote and maintain high standards and good practices in the delivery of mental health services.

Fine Gael’s Dan Neville, who is president of Irish Association of Suicidology, has pointed out that a report published two years’ ago calling for the development of mental health services to meet the specific needs of teenagers has not been acted on.

He described the situation where children as young as 13 were detained in adult psychiatric units as a national scandal.