asked the Minister for Health whether a new psychiatric unit has yet been established at Limerick Regional Hospital to serve the needs of the area as was recommended by the Commission of Inquiry on Mental Illness.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Psychiatric Service.
22.
The provision of a new psychiatric unit at Limerick Regional Hospital has been approved and the building is in course of planning.
23.
asked the Minister for Health the present estimated number of long term stay beds in the psychiatric service in the Republic (a) at the most recent date and (b) on publication of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Mental Illness 1966.
The Commission on Mental Illness estimated that on 31st March, 1963, the number of long stay mentally ill patients in mental hospitals (long stay being 15 months or upwards) was 10,000. It is estimated that this figure had fallen to 8,600 on 31st March, 1968.
Arrangements are in train for a comprehensive survey of mental hospital populations according to categories to coincide with the next general census of population to be held in the spring of 1971.