Vol. 531 No. 2
105 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has satisfied himself with the procedures for assessing patients for placement in a community setting as arose in the case of persons (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he promised a review of these procedures in a recent media interview. [5357/01]
In 1984, the Government published Planning for the Future, the report of a study group set up to examine our psychiatric services. The report recommended that psychiatric care should be primarily community based and that there should be a shift away from the psychiatric hospital being the focal point of the service. Successive Governments have supported this policy and the shift in mental health care from an institutional to a community based setting has resulted in many improvements.
The aim is to provide each individual patient with the best possible care in the most appropriate setting. Patients are only discharged from in-patient psychiatric care when their clinical condition warrants it. In view of the positive benefits that have resulted for so many patients there are no plans to revise the Government's policy in this area.
I assume the Deputy is referring to a recent radio interview when I referred to the assessment of need which is undertaken in relation to persons with an intellectual disability who are on the national intellectual disability database. At a minimum, an annual review of the circumstances of each person on the database should be undertaken to update details of their current service provision and to identify any current or future service needs. My Department's policy in relation to these reviews is that they should be attended by the staff working with the individual concerned, including multi-disciplinary support staff and family members or other persons close to and in regular contact with them. Following on the concerns expressed during the above mentioned interview regarding this review process, I requested officials from my Department to bring both these concerns and the policy in relation to reviews to the attention of the health boards and Eastern Regional Health Authority.
