Nuala Fennell
Question:71 Mrs. Fennell asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the reasons the Mental Health Act, 1981 has never been enforced.
Written Answers. - Mental Hospital Committals.
Nuala Fennell
Question:72 Mrs. Fennell asked the Minister for Health if there is a register of persons committed, on temporary committal orders, to mental hospitals, the number of people who were the subject of such orders in the last ten years; and the numbers that spent six months or more in hospital.
Nuala Fennell
Question:73 Mrs. Fennell asked the Minister for Health if he has any plans to amend the Mental Treatment Act, 1945.
Nuala Fennell
Question:74 Mrs. Fennell asked the Minister for Health if he has any plans to remove the legal immunity enjoyed by the medical profession under the Mental Treatment Act, 1945.
The Health (Mental Services) Act, 1981, has not been brought into force for two reasons, (1) many of the provisions of the Act require the preparation of regulations but in some instances the power to make regulations is defective; (2) the general thrust of the Act has been superseded by developments in the psychiatric services, particularly since the publication of the report, Planning for the Future.
My Department are currently reviewing all aspects of mental health legislation. Following this review, which will include consultation with interested parties, it is my intention to put forward proposals for new mental health legislation which will protect the interests of patients and facilitate the development of community psychiatric services as recommended in Planning for the Future.
Information on admissions to psychiatric hospitals and acute units, including those compulsorily admitted, is collected and published each year by the Health Research Board. The board's figures show that about 11 per cent of persons admitted to psychiatric hospitals each year, about 2,500 people, were involuntary admissions. Information on the numbers of involuntary patients spending six months or more in hospital is collected but not included in the board's report. The information is being assembled and will be sent to the Deputy in due course.
The medical profession does not have legal immunity under the Mental Treatment Act, 1945. Section 260 provides that the High Court must grant leave before civil proceedings can be instituted in respect of action taken under the Act. As the judgment and reasons of a person suffering from mental illness may be impaired, it is necessary to provide safeguards against unnecessary legislation while at the same time respecting the individual's right to seek redress from the courts. The current review of mental health legislation will address the issue of access by involuntary patients to the courts, in the light of modern standards of legal redress.