Women's unit of mental hospital 'totally unsuitable'

THE WOMEN’S unit at the Central Mental Hospital, Dublin is “totally unsuitable” and “grim”, a report by the Mental Health Commission has found.

The commission repeated its previous concerns about the unsuitability of the Victorian hospital building but raised particular concerns about female patient accommodation, in a report released in recent days.

Ten female patients lived in Block 1, where they had been moved in February last for more space and to reduce their seclusion. Inspectors visited the hospital for an unannounced inspection last May.

Residents in the unit’s high-observation area had no living area and instead would sit in a “grim narrow corridor” to eat meals and to watch television. “Overall, the high observation corridor was grim, essentially being an 1840s cell-block and totally unsuited to the therapeutic care of women, the report said.

Bedrooms in the unit were described as “extremely small and cell-like, poorly ventilated and had limited storage space”.

Women were locked in their rooms from 8.45pm, regardless of their risk level. This meant they had to ring nurses if they needed to use the toilet at night, with waits of up to 30 minutes reported by some residents.

“This was a blanket rule and did not necessarily reflect the assessed need of individual women residents, some of whom attended rehabilitation programmes in the community,” the report said.

Inspectors said the lack of a step-down facility for women was “of particular concern”.

The women’s unit was the only unit for women regardless of their security requirements or rehabilitation status. Women had no step-down facility and no community supervised accommodation, the report said.

“A number of women were reported to be ready for supervised community living but nothing was available for them,” the report said.

In the Central Mental Hospital overall, provision of mental health services in the “unsuitable environment” was “unacceptable”, the report said.

The inspectors described the lack of progress on a replacement facility for the hospital as “unacceptable”.

“It was also unacceptable that plans to provide suitable accommodation had not progressed. Each year the inspectorate states that the Central Mental Hospital is not a suitable building for a modern forensic mental health service yet no progress has been made in rectifying the situation.”

Continuing problematic premises were also the main concern of inspectors during an unannounced visit at St Ita’s Hospital Portrane, Dublin in March, according to a report released in recent days.

The hospital had “old, poorly maintained buildings and limited facilities” with an “outdated” and very institutional layout.

Both rehabilitation wards had “little evidence to indicate progressive or dynamic programmes”.

The report recommended the closure of the hospital’s Willbrook rehabilitation ward.