Limerick East): The Eastern Health Board is responsible for the provision of psychiatric services in south-east Dublin. The total budget for psychiatric services in this area is approximately £4.7 million. The Hospitaller Order of St. John of God operates Cluain Mhuire, the community-based psychiatric service in the catchment on an agency basis for the Eastern Health Board. This service has a budget of £4.2 million, composed of £3.7 million for adult psychiatry and £0.5 million for child psychiatry. In addition to the services provided in the catchment by the Cluain Mhuire service, the Eastern Health Board provides subvention in the order of £0.5 million for nursing home placements directly related to general psychiatry and psychiatry of the elderly. This includes a sum of £70,000 for the care of elderly patients whose primary need is non-psychiatric and whose care needs were paid out of the special hospital care programme until this year.
While per capita expenditure on mental health can be calculated on the basis of total expenditure and population numbers, such a crude figure is not used in the determination of budgetary requirements. Factors such as demographic structure, the geographic spread of the population and the type of service being provided — whether institutionally or community-based — are more important determinants of budget need and when these are taken into account the Eastern Health Board is satisfied that the service provided in south-east Dublin compares favourably with other services in its functional area.
