Vol. 437 No. 1
115 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Health the progress, if any, that has been made in reviewing the policy as contained in Planning for the Future; his views on the need for long stay hospital psychiatric beds in each region; if his attention has been drawn to the concern of some doctors that there are insufficient long stay beds to meet the need; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The report of the Study Group on the Development of the Psychiatric Services, Planning for the Future, which was published in December 1984 recommended a shift in delivery of services for the mentally ill from an institutional to a community based service. This policy has been adopted by successive Governments and the process of providing a comprehensive community based service in place of the traditional model based on the psychiatric hospital has been ongoing for a number of years. The Green Paper on Mental Health, which was published in June, 1992 endorsed the policies as outlined in Planning for the Future and outlined what still needs to be done to complete the transition to a comprehensive, community oriented, sector based service which is integrated with other health services.
In line with this policy, the number of patients resident in public psychiatric hospitals has continued to fall from 11,613 patients in December 1984 to 7,050 at the end of March 1991. The fall in the number of patients in psychiatric hospitals has been brought about by the transfer of admissions to acute psychiatric units in general hospitals, by the transfer of many patients from hospital to independent community living or to community residences and by the deaths of older residents. While the hospitalisation rate of psychiatric patients has been falling, it is still twice as high as that of France, Denmark, England and Wales.
The number of community residences and training hostels for discharged long-stay patients has increased from just over 121 in 1984 to 324 in 1991. The number of places in these residences and hostels has also increased from just over 900 to 2,288 in the same period. Day hospitals and day centres for the mentally ill have also been established to cater for patients living in the community and to prevent admissions to hospitals which might otherwise take place. In 1984 there were thirty two day hospitals and centres providing 800 places compared to 114 providing approximately 2,500 places at the end of 1991.
I can assure the Deputy that while I recognise the need for sufficient long-stay places for psychiatric patients, I am satisfied that there are sufficient long-stay beds available in psychiatric hospitals to cater for those long-stay patients who have been assessed as unsuitable for transfer to community based accommodation.
