IMO seeks deferral of mental health tribunals

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has called on the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE) to defer the introduction of the new mental health tribunals which are scheduled to come into effect from next week.

The new tribunals will independently review the cases of persons detained involuntarily in psychiatric hospitals.

However, the IMO said yesterday that the implementation date should be put back as the mental health system was not yet ready to deal with all the issues involved in establishing the new tribunals.

IMO director of industrial relations Fintan Hourihan said last night that an additional 20 consultant psychiatrist posts which were to be put in place to facilitate the operation of the new tribunals had not yet been filled.

He also said that there were concerns about the lack of guidelines governing the detention of children and adolescents.

He said that there were also problems arising in relation to the requirements of persons with learning disabilities.

However, the Department of Health said last night that the Minister, Mary Harney, the HSE and the Mental Health Commission were fully committed to the establishment of the tribunals from the beginning of November.

The department said that the tribunals were key to protecting the interests of people who were detained in psychiatric hospitals and units.

It also said that a scheme of fees for tribunal members had been agreed since 2004.

Both the IMO and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) are to meet health service management today for emergency talks on the introduction of the new tribunals.