Placing of children in adult mental health units slammed by MHC
In a series of inspection reports, the MHC was extremely critical of a number of units in Cork, Limerick, Dublin and Kerry for a range of issues, including the poor state of the premises, lack of cleanliness, and a policy of moving patients out of wards at night in order to free up a bed.
The policy of “sleeping out”, or transferring residents between units at night, was noted in St Stephen’s Hospital in Glanmire in Cork.
The MHC said the policy is “an affront to the dignity and privacy of the residents obliged to move” as they have to sleep in an unfamiliar environment and often there is no bed available to them when they return to their original unit.
The policy presents “considerable risk” to residents, with one reported to have fallen while alighting a bus in order to be transferred for the night.
The risk management policy also did not contain the precautions in place to control risks such as suicide and self-harm, assault, and accidental injury to residents or staff.
Staffing in one unit was found to be not appropriate to the assessed needs of the residents. Two male and one female staff members were found to be providing care to 13 residents, some of whom had complex health needs.
Sliabh Mis mental health ward in University Hospital Tralee was found to be “not kept in a good state of repair externally and internally”, with bathrooms and shower rooms that were poorly ventilated, resulting in “unpleasant odours”.
“The four-bed female dormitory had a hole in one of the ceiling tiles through which piping was visible. The wall outside the six-bed male dormitory was damaged and the corridor walls were in need of repair and redecorating,” said the inspection report.
There were also six child admissions to the centre since its last inspection — despite the fact that it is not a suitable centre for children.
At the acute psychiatric unit 5B in University Hospital Limerick, the MHC took issue with the lack of privacy afforded to residents, as well as the condition of the premises.
Eight beds were observed to have insufficient screening. Curtains around beds were too narrow to screen the bedroom space or were missing entirely. One resident’s bed was inadequately screened and situated beneath the communal television.
The premises were found to be “not clean and maintained in good structural and decorative condition” or adequately ventilated.
Lack of privacy for residents was also highlighted in relation to the mental health unit at St Finan’s Hospital in Killarney.
Residents did not have privacy when using the phone while two curtains only reached halfway around the bed of the resident using them.
The cleanliness and condition of the premises also came in for sharp criticism.
“The floors were badly stained,” read the report. “The paint was peeling from the walls. The toilets and sinks were unclean. In the dormitories, the curtain hooks and rails were dirty and rusty.
“In one of the male dormitories, there was staining in the corner of the ceiling. In the toilet of this male dormitory, the emergency cord was cut short and was not accessible to residents.”
Bags of dirty laundry stored on the floor of the sluice room in pools of water were also found by the inspection team.
