Psychiatric admissions up after 20-year fall

ADMISSIONS to psychiatric units and hospitals have increased for the first time since 1986, according to the Health Research Board (HRB).

The figures from the HRB’s annual report also show that people who were divorced had the highest rate of all admissions, and agricultural workers had the highest rate of first-time admissions.

Dermot Walsh, principal investigator with the HRB, said the lack of community services for mental health patients was one of the reasons behind the first increase in more than 20 years.