25 July 2002

PRESS STATEMENT

Irish Section Rejects Criticism of Psychiatrists

The Irish Section of the Royal College of Psychiatrists rejects criticism of Irish psychiatrists in regard to the treatment of mentally ill prisoners. This criticism was contained in article published in Medicine Weekly of 24th July and based on a report from the Irish Prison Reform Trust.

Dr. Colette Halpin, Chairperson of the Irish Section said today, "Before jumping to hasty conclusions everyone involved must accept that our psychiatric service is totally under-funded and under resourced. The inevitable consequence is a service, which is not meeting the needs of patients in all areas. To attempt to blame psychiatrists for the deficiencies in the service is quite ridiculous."

General Adult Psychiatric services in Ireland are particularly pressurised and under-resourced resulting in a shortage of acute in-patient psychiatric beds. This can lead to the imprisonment of mentally ill people who could otherwise be treated in in-patient psychiatric facilities. This is an issue of immense concern to individual psychiatrists and the Irish Section.

The new Mental Health Act will specifically exclude the involuntary admission of people to psychiatric hospitals solely because of personality disorder or antisocial behaviour. The Irish Section of the Royal College of Psychiatrists supports this .It is appropriate that the scarce resource of inpatient facilities be utilised for patients with treatable psychiatric illnesses.

There is a serious need for new Mental Health legislation to cater for mentally disordered offenders. The Irish Section has repeatedly made this viewpoint known to the Department of Health and Children in the context of the White Paper on Mental Health in 1995 and the Mental Health Bill 1999 and Act 2001. This legislation should be compatible with the new Mental Health Act 2001 and should also be resourced accordingly.

All Irish psychiatrists are seriously concerned about the resourcing of psychiatric services at all levels both in Forensic and in General Psychiatric services. We want to work with the Departments of Health and Justice in providing efficient, effective and high quality, services for all Irish people.

Further information
Wally Young, Young Communications 01-6680530 or 087-2471520