Concern over wait list for access to Central Mental Hospital

An archive picture of the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin.

A growing waiting list for prisoners with a severe psychiatric illness in accessing the Central Mental Hospital represents “an increasing risk” and a “significant patient safety issue” for prison authorities, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) has said.

The IPS was responding to figures, obtained by the Irish Examiner, which show an increase of around 20% in the number of prisoners waiting to get into the CMH – rising from 13 last October to 16 in November.

The figures, which are rarely made public, follow a court case earlier this week in which the clinical director of the CMH, Professor Harry Kennedy, said he could not admit a man, detained on charges of assault but assessed as suffering from a serious mental illness, because the facility was full.

Prof Kennedy told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the only solution he could see in freeing up capacity was for the CMH to be included in the current Covid-19 vaccination programme.

He said he had not been told by the HSE when this would be. He pointed out to the court that there had been two outbreaks in the facility and that he had around 40 of his 350 staff out on Covid-related leave.

He accepted that the HSE was in breach of its statutory obligations to the court by not taking in the man.

Rising figures 

Figures obtained by the Irish Examiner show there were 13 prisoners on the CMH waiting list during most of October.

This rose to 15 at the beginning of November and stayed at 16 for the vast majority of the month. The number dropped to 15 just before Christmas. There are no figure available yet for the last few weeks.

Responding to queries regarding the figures, the IPS said in a statement: “A waiting list for the admission of prisoners to the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) is operated by the National Forensic Mental Health Services and is reviewed on a weekly basis. 

The growth in the waiting list numbers represents an increasing risk for us in safely managing prisoners suffering from a severe mental illness.

It said: “At present, these prisoners are managed within the prison estate, however, this care is not comparable to what is provided in the CMH and represents a significant patient safety issue.” 

Responding to the court case earlier this week, the HSE told the Irish Examiner: “Covid-19 has impacted negatively on the capacity at the [CMH]. The HSE is working to making every effort to meet our statutory obligations at this time. 

"The existing CMH is currently operating at 100% bed occupancy.”  

It said the new CMH in Portrane — increasing bed numbers to 170 — was now due to open in mid-2021.