Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for your kind invitation to speak in the Seanad today, giving me the opportunity to make a statement on the report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals.

Under the provisions of sections 247 and 248 of the Mental Treatment Act, 1945, the inspector issues an annual report on psychiatric hospitals and services and the care of patients therein. The report assists in bringing to our attention those areas within the mental health services which require particular and sometimes urgent attention. At the beginning of the 2001 report, the inspector provides an overview of the mental health services and on a range of issues likely to impact on the provision of services. The report then proceeds to provide details of activity within each individual service. Each health board is allocated a separate chapter, with a chapter also being devoted to registered psychiatric hospitals. A presentation of the latest statistical information on the psychiatric services is also included in the report.

I can confirm to the House that substantial progress has been made in addressing the matters raised by the inspector in the 2001 report. One of the recurring themes in the annual reports of the inspector has been the standard of accommodation provided for patients in the old style mental hospitals. The Psychiatric Services – Planning for the Future, published in 1984 recognised that old institutional hospitals are unsuitable for the delivery of a modern mental health service and developed the concept of a comprehensive community orientated psychiatric service. The new national health strategy document, Quality and Fairness – A Health System for You, published in 2001, includes a commitment to prepare a national policy framework for the further modernisation of the mental health services, updating the 1984 policy document, Planning for the Future. Work on the development of this new national policy framework is due to commence in the coming months.

In his 2001 report, the Inspector of Mental Hospitals referred to the continuing decline in the number of patients in psychiatric in-patient facilities, from 4,522 at the end of 2000 to 4,256 at the end of 2001. There were 26,037 admissions to these facilities in 2001. The number of involuntary admissions, at approximately 2,597, remained constant at 10 per cent.