Woman detained in inappropriate psychiatric hospital for four years

The absence of an appropriate unit in the State for medium term secure detention of women with serious mental health difficulties, but not so severe as to warrant detention in the Central Mental Hospital, has been highlighted in a High Court case.

The judge was dealing with the case of a woman, a ward of court with paranoid schizophrenia, who has been involuntarily detained under court orders for more than four years in the acute admissions unit of a psychiatric hospital.

A consultant psychiatrist involved in her treatment agreed with another psychiatrist that the admissions unit — a mixed ward where very agitated, intoxicated, and disturbed persons are occasionally treated — is not appropriate for the woman.