Psych patients sleep in activity room due to overcrowding

Overcrowding at an acute psychiatric unit is forcing staff to locate patients in an activities therapy room during the night.

The Inspectorate of Mental Health Services has found the HSE to be in breach of mental health regulations in relation to the overcrowding at the unit in the regional hospital, in Ennis, Co Clare.

The inspectorate’s report found that on 30 occasions between January and April of this year, patients’ beds were wheeled into the activities room at night.

The beds were wheeled onto the main corridor during the day whilst activities continued. Several residents had been required to share this space with another person as sleeping accommodation. “Residents’ privacy was significantly compromised,” the report stated.

The overcrowding stems from the unit now looking after psychiatric patients from north Tipperary. On the day of inspection, there were 13 north Tipperary patients at the unit.

Three residents, including two from north Tipperary, voiced their concerns to the inspectors on the level of care they were receiving at the unit.

“One resident was dissatisfied with the level of health and social care input into their care, and considered that this had seriously disadvantaged recovery and unnecessarily delayed discharge,” the inspectors stated. “Another resident spoke with inspectors and expressed dissatisfaction with the range and scope of therapeutic provision, and said there was a lack of age and culturally appropriate choices and recovery orientated activities of daily living.”

The inspectors also noted that staff “expressed concern about health and social care input for north Tipperary residents, particularly relating to follow-up and discharge”.

In response, the general secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association, Des Kavanagh said yesterday: “The overcrowding taking place at the unit is anti-psychiatry and anti-recovery.”

Mr Kavanagh said that when the unit was opened after the closure of the 19th century psychiatric hospital, “we were confident that the new unit would be a symbol of modern Irish psychiatry”.

However, he said that with the overcrowding taking place, this hasn’t proven to be the case.