Report shows inequities of mental health treatment

There are worrying contrasts between the high standards of private mental hospital wards and the Victorian realities of the public sector, a report found today.

Dr Dermot Walsh, Inspector of Mental Hospitals, said the conditions highlighted inequalities in the service provided to different social groups.

The report for 2003 stated St Patrick’s in Dublin, the exclusively private hospital, stood in sharp contrast to the “Victorian realities” of ward one, St Bridget’s Hospital, Ballinasloe in Co Galway.

The report listed 11 hospitals which contain wards with “seriously unsatisfactory conditions”, including most of the Central Mental Hospital.

Tim O’Malley, Minister of State at the Health Department, said copies of the report were laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.

The inspector highlighted the continuing decline in the number of people in in-patient facilities, with 3,701 at the end of last year compared to 3,966 in 2002.

Almost 55% of patients in hospital at the end of 2003 were long-term patients continuously hospitalised for over one year.

There were 3,701 patients in public and private psychiatric hospitals and acute units at the end of last year.

During 2003 there were 23,234 admissions to the in-patient facilities, with 2,349 patients admitted involuntarily.

Mr Walsh’s report showed a small number of services had evolved towards an up-to-date model of outreach and home-based care service.

But figures revealed the majority were still operating partially-developed community models of care.

Mr O’Malley said the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy established to prepare a new national policy framework would also examine models of care.

“It is acknowledged that a new policy framework is needed, to take account of recent legislative reform, innovative developments in the care and treatment of mental illness and the views of those who use the services, as well as those who work within them,” Mr O’Malley said.

Mr O’Malley commended Dr Walsh as he delivered his sixteenth and final report before the inspectors role was taken over by the Mental Health Commission.