Written answers

Wednesday, 24 May 2006

Department of Health and Children

Mental Health Services

9:00 pm

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 177: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the fact that there is a great need for the provision of psychiatrists and psychologists in prisons here due to the high number of young males currently in prisons here and the fact that when they are released there has been no rehabilitation carried out; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19781/06]

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Central Mental Hospital (CMH), Dundrum, Co Dublin provides a forensic service for the entire country. The CMH, as national forensic psychiatric hospital, admits patients from the criminal justice system (mainly from prisons) and from the psychiatric services under the provisions of the Mental Treatment Act, 1945. In addition to in-patient care, the hospital provides a consultative assessment service for hospitals throughout the country and for the criminal justice system. The service is funded and administered by the Health Service Executive.

The CMH admits approximately 80 involuntary patients per year, the majority from the prison system. This constitutes 0.7 per cent of all committals to prison (11,620 per annum). In addition to in-patient services based at the CMH, consultant-led liaison services and outpatient clinics are provided on a regular basis to prisons in Dublin and the midlands.

Additional forensic psychiatric posts were approved for the CMH in recent years with a view to providing in-reach services within the prisons so that only those with severe mental illness and in need of appropriate hospital care would be transferred to the CMH. The number of Consultant Forensic Psychiatric posts in the CMH has increased from 2 to 5 since 2002.

The provision of in-reach services to the prisons by the CMH has facilitated patient access to services at local level for those in prison custody. These services now employ 20 staff to provide this service (5 Social Workers, 7 Occupational Therapists, 3 Psychologists and 5 Forensic Community Psychiatric Nurses).

The HSE works in collaboration with the prison authorities in Cork where a consultant forensic psychiatrist is available to prisoners and in July of this year a new consultant psychiatrist will be appointed with dedicated sessions to meet the mental health needs of prisoners at Limerick.

For prisoners in Mountjoy, Cloverhill and Wheatfield prisons who have a history of addiction, the HSE also makes available the specialist services of consultant psychiatrists with a special interest in substance misuse.

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