Vol. 563 No. 1
400 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of straitjackets in the possession of the health boards and other agencies funded by the State involved in the care and treatment of prisoners and persons with psychiatric illnesses and intellectual disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6987/03]
402 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Health and Children the legislation, rules and regulations concerning the use of straitjackets in hospitals and other institutions; if a copy of those rules and regulations can be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6989/03]
403 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to a practise of incarcerating patients in some psychiatric hospitals in a silent room; his views on this practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6990/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 400, 402 and 403 together.
Information on the number of straitjackets in the possession of the health boards and other agencies funded by the State involved in the care and treatment of prisoners and persons with psychiatric illnesses and intellectual disabilities is not available within my Department.
I am informed by the Inspector of Mental Hospitals that the use of seclusion and mechanical constraint has been largely eliminated from mental health care. However, there are still a very small number of instances where such measures are utilised as a last resort. In the guidelines on good practice and quality assurance in mental health services 1998 issued to service providers by the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, the proper safeguards and precautions governing the use as a last resort of seclusion and mechanical constraint are set out. These include recommendations that: only a consultant psychiatrist may prescribe such treatments in writing; this decision should be reviewed every six hours; the patient should be visited by a nurse, and observations recorded and documented, every 15 minutes; and a separate care plan be maintained for patients where such measures are required, recording information on events and the actual behaviour and interventions used prior to the episode.
The implementation of these guidelines is monitored by the inspector in his annual inspection of each service. Copies of the guidelines are available on request from my Department. In recent times many psychiatric hospitals and acute units provide multi-sensory rooms for patients, where a very calm and quiet atmosphere is created to help patients relax. The Inspector of Mental Hospitals considers such facilities most helpful to patients.
