Dr. Philip Dodd:

I thank Deputy Cairns for asking that question about a vulnerable part of our population. The national psychiatric database that the Health Research Board has in place monitors psychiatric inpatient admissions and discharges. Based on the report in 2021, the numbers of people with intellectual disability admitted to psychiatric hospitals is very low. However, the time that they spend in hospital is very long. That speaks to some of the care planning issues that the Deputy highlighted.

Sharing the Vision is aware of this as a challenge and two particular recommendations seek to ameliorate this problem. Recommendation 45 looks at gathering much more detail on delayed discharges from approved centres. Recommendation 48 specifically looks at a greater level of integrated care planning for these types of individuals. With that in mind the HSE has established the national placement oversight group, which is an integrated group from mental health and disabilities that seeks to come up with the most person-centred and timely placement for people who often present with quite complex needs. The effort is to provide the most individualised service as close to the individual's home and community as possible.