Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Future of Mental Health Care

Mental Health Services in Prisons and Detention Centres: Discussion

1:40 pm

Professor Harry Kennedy:

The Deputy also asked about psychiatric intensive care units, PICUs. It is not just enough to say that we need 17 general adult psychiatric beds per 100,000, which is what A Vision for Change said - other countries have 40 to 60, or even 80 - but we need to specify different types of beds for different purposes. There are admission beds, rehab beds and specialist beds for special things like eating disorders. Crucial in there is local low secure acute units, psychiatric intensive care units. There should be one for every 300,000 of the population, which is about 12 beds, or roughly three per 100,000. Some would say the number is 3.5. I only know of one in the entire country and that is the Phoenix unit.