Psychiatric patients' plight ignored - IHCA

Psychiatric patients have had to be accommodated on the floor at Naas General Hospital on occasion because of a shortage of acute…

Psychiatric patients have had to be accommodated on the floor at Naas General Hospital on occasion because of a shortage of acute beds, the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association alleges.

The IHCA has accused the Eastern Regional Health Authority of "ignoring" the plight of psychiatric patients. However, the ERHA says it is funding a third high-support hostel for Kildare and has appointed a fifth psychiatric consultant.

Along with the South-Western Area Health Board it has commissioned the Health Research Board to establish the need for psychiatric beds in Kildare.

Naas General Hospital has only 30 psychiatric beds but should have 54 according to national guidelines, Mr Donal Duffy, assistant secretary general of the IHCA, says.

READ MORE

"The hospital regularly facilitates in excess of 30 patients, accommodating additional numbers on the floor at times," he said. "Patients may also be transferred at any time of the day or night to hospitals many miles from home. This is extremely distressing for vulnerable patients often ill-equipped to advocate on their own behalf."

The ERHA says the new high-support hostel will bring to three the number available in the area. The existing two hostels accommodate 28 people between them. Naas General is currently undergoing a £75 million reconstruction programme and the SWAHB has asked the design team to examine the needs of acute psychiatric patients as part of that project.

In the meantime, patients are sometimes accommodated in Tallaght General Hospital and St James's Hospital, Dublin, or in private psychiatric institutions, according to the SWAHB.

Relatives who bring meals to family members in hospital may seem to be overdoing it - but not so, an article in the current Journal of Health Gain would suggest. Nearly four in 10 people admitted to a Dublin hospital were undernourished and this rose to almost two-thirds for surgical cancer patients, according to recent studies.

But being in hospital didn't improve their nutrition: "Of those admitted in this State, most worsen while in hospital," the article, by dietician Ms Catherine Lamont and dietician manager Ms Elizabeth Barnes, said.

Studies in two Irish public hospitals found that "nutrient requirements were not met in the majority of public patients, where the lower budget resulted in less food being offered." Patients in a private hospital fared significantly better.

Tests, fasting, doctors' rounds and mealtime visits from friends are also responsible for undernourishment, the authors say.

St Vincent's University Hospital is considering changing the timing of meals, staff education and screening for nourishment in a bid to tackle the problem.

healthwatch@irish-times.ie

Hospital Watch and Checkup on the Web: special/hospital