Mental health service faces inspection

FROM next January, the State’s newly appointed inspector Dr Teresa Carey will begin her tour of the country’s mental health services amid concerns about the quality of care and treatment in some institutions.

Earlier this month, the Government set up an expert group to prepare a new policy on mental health the first update since 1984. Nothing became of a proposed modification of that policy contained in a 1995 White Paper. Junior Health Minister Tim O'Malley said it was "widely acknowledged" that a new policy was badly needed.

Every year, approximately 2,600 people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals against their will.