, Limerick East): The report of the study group on the development of the psychiatric services —Planning for the Future— forms the blueprint for the development of the psychiatric services into the 21st century.
The Deputy will be aware that a key recommendation of the report was that there should be a shift in the delivery of services for the mentally ill from a predominantly institutional to a community based approach in caring for and treating persons with mental illness. The emphasis on such a service is on outpatient treatment and day care services.
In line with this recommendation, health boards have been restructuring their psychiatric services with policies of developing a comprehensive range of community psychiatric services, including day hospitals and day centres, rehabilitating and discharging patients from their various institutions to community residential accommodation and developing acute psychiatric units at general hospitals.