Report: Patient at Central Mental Hospital secluded for 111 hours

A patient at the Central Mental Hospital was secluded for 111 hours on a single occasion last year.

The Irish Times is reporting new figures compiled by the the Mental Health Commission which are due to be published today.

The Mental Health Commission estimates that there has been a 57% increase in the use of restrictive practices on inpatients in Ireland's mental health facilities over the last yen years.

The report found that there was 4,765 combined episodes of physical restraint and seclusion in 2008.

But in 2018, there was 7,464 incidents recorded.

Between 2017 and 2018 alone there was an 18 per cent increase of episodes of the physical restraint of inpatients.

The use of seclusion increased by 29% in the same period. There was 312 episodes last year where a person was secluded for more than 24 hours, and 81 episodes where a person was secluded for than 72 hours.

In one instance, a patient at the Central Mental Hospital was secluded for 111 hours.