Dan Boyle
Question:108 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Health and Children the proposals which exist to restrict, discourage or eliminate the use of strait jackets in psychiatric hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5090/03]
Written Answers - Psychiatric Service.
Dan Boyle
Question:110 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Health and Children the policy his Department has to restrict the use of silent rooms in psychiatric hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5092/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 108 and 110 together.
I am informed by the Inspector of Mental Hospitals that the use of seclusion and mechanical constraint has been largely eliminated from mental health care. There are still a very small number of instances where such measures are utilised as a last resort. In the guidelines on good practice and quality assurance in mental health services, issued to service providers by the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, the proper safeguards and precautions governing the use, as a last resort, of seclusion and mechanical constraint are set out. These include recommendations that: only a consultant psychiatrist may prescribe, in writing, such treatments; this decision should be reviewed every six hours; the patient should be visited by a nurse and observations recorded and documented every 15 minutes; and a separate care plan be maintained for patients where such measures are required, recording information on events and the behaviour and interventions used prior to the episode. The implementation of these guidelines is monitored by the inspector in his annual inspection of each service.
In recent times many psychiatric hospitals and acute units provide multi-sensory rooms for patients where a calm and quiet atmosphere is created to help patients relax. The inspector considers such facilities most helpful to patients.