We seek the best for mentally ill
St Brendan’s has been the district mental hospital for Dublin since the beginning of the 19th century. Having served the city and county area for almost 200 years, the hospital has undergone significant changes, in particular since the 1960s when it catered for over 2,000 patients.
St Brendan’s has developed to keep abreast of international trends to decentralise the provision of psychiatric care from large institutional settings to multidisciplinary community services and towards the development of acute psychiatric facilities in general hospitals.
In line with strategies such as the Department of Health document Planning for the Future (1984), this process has accelerated since that time, when St Brendan’s had an in-patient population of over 900, compared with 140 today - excluding those residing in community houses.
As a result of considerable planning and development over the past 10 years, the provision of acute services is now transferring to the general hospital setting.
The Grangegorman Development Bill (2004) will see the transfer of some of the lands of the hospital to the DIT and the commitment of the health board to the development of new, custom-built units so as to continue the provision of specialist, high-quality services to patients who require them. The existing physical facilities have long required modernisation and more multidisciplinary resources and supports are also often needed.
Despite these constraints, current patients are receiving a high level of care from highly dedicated staff - as commented on in the annual reports of the inspector of mental hospitals and evidenced by the progress made by our services users in leading more confident and independent lives. It is important to note that the level of psychiatric beds in Dublin has now been reduced to half the norm recommended in Planning for the Future in 1984.
Those who suffer from mental health problems remain marginalised, often feeling their voices are unheard and their needs unacknowledged in a busy and demanding society. Those who work closely with and advocate for those with mental health problems often share the feeling that their efforts are unacknowledged or unseen by wider society.
We call on all sectors of society to acknowledge and support the continued development of good quality, therapeutic and rights-based service provision for those with mental health difficulties.
Dr Angela Mohan, Clinical Director
Antoinette Gogarty, Hospital Administrator
Pauline McGinley, Senior Social Work Practitioner
Ruth Power, Occupational Therapy Manager
Mary Timony, Chief Pharmacist
Seán Tone, Director of Nursing
Aisling White
St Brendan’s Psychiatric Hospital
Senior Clinical Psychologist
Rathdown Road
Grangegorman
Dublin 7
