Inspections of six inpatient units found six critical and 29 high-risk non-compliances Concerns around risk management, staffing and restrictive practices such as the physical restraint of patients have been found in inspections of six inpatient mental health centres around the country. The inspection reports, published by the Mental Health Commission (MHC), uncovered six critical and 29 high-risk non-compliances across a number of rules, regulations and codes of practice. The reports focussed on St Loman’s Hospital in Westmeath; the Department of Psychiatry at St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny; the Department of Psychiatry at Letterkenny University Hospital; the Acute Psychiatric Unit at Tallaght University Hospital; Sliabh Mis Mental Health Admission Unit at University Hospital Kerry; and St Michael’s Unit at Mercy University Hospital, Cork.
There were common themes of concern across all six centres, which included failings in regulations for risk management procedures and staffing, and in the general area of restrictive practices. Four of the centres together were found to have six high-risk non-compliances relating to restrictive practices – three for the rules governing the use of seclusion, and three for the code of practice on the use of physical restraint. The MHC’s Director of Regulation, Gary Kiernan, reminded providers that the rules governing the use of seclusion and mechanical means of bodily restraint, and a revised code of practice on the use of physical.
