Vol. 559 No. 1
344 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps being taken to ensure compliance with the recommendations made in the Inspector of Mental Hospitals Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25926/02]
The report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals for 2001 was published on 12 September 2002. The Inspector noted that steady progress was being made in implementing the national policy of replacing 19th century mental hospital accommodation with acute assessment and treatment units in general hospitals and, for less acute illness, appropriate community residential premises. I am fully committed to facilitating the health boards, as far as possible, to bring about the improvements to the services identified by the Inspector in his report. Significant additional funding, both capital and revenue has been provided by my Department in recent years for this purpose.
