Mental health - A damning report

An inquiry commissioned by the Mental Health Commission into St Luke’s psychiatric hospital in Clonmel and St Michael’s psychiatric unit in South Tipperary General Hospital is highly critical of the standard of care provided for 180 intellectually disabled residents.

The report exposed widespread failures to provide proper standards.

Residents were inappropriately sedated with tranquillisers to control their behaviour, because of the absence of proper therapeutic and recreation activities. Wards were unnecessarily locked and seclusion was used too often.

The inquiry — which was initially undertaken as a result of concerns over 19 patients who suffered fractures between 2002 and 2004 — concluded that the failure to address environmental defects in St Luke’s Hospital had increased the risk of injury to patients.

The poor design of the building posed observational difficulties that put vulnerable patients at risk. This was compounded by the need for patients to share accommodation with others who had behavioural difficulties.

The safety “and welfare of residents had not been given sufficient priority”, according to the findings. Some of the report’s language is stunning. It referred to the lives of the residents being “impoverished” by appalling conditions.

John Moloney, the Minister of State with responsibility for Equality, Disability and Mental Heath, described the conditions as “totally unacceptable in a modern mental health service”.

This is a further indictment of the Health Service Executive and ultimately the Government.