Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:34:23.032Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychiatric deinstitutionalisation in Ireland 1960–2013

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2015

D. Walsh
D. Walsh*
Affiliation:
Consultant Psychiatrist. Formerly Inspector of Mental Hospitals
*
*Address for correspondence: D. Walsh, Russborough, Blessington Co Wicklow. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

This paper reviews the decline in numbers in inpatient psychiatric care in Ireland over the past half century.

Method

The relevant policy publications advocating de-institutilisation have been examined. Change has been monitored through successive census reports of the Medico-social Research Board and the Health Research Board.

Findings

Ireland has moved from having the highest hospitalisation rate of any western country to a position of equality with other comparable countries in the quantum of inpatient care provided. In the public sector virtually no patients remain in 19th century mental hospitals with acute care being provided in general hospital units. Numbers have also decreased in the private sector but to a lesser degree and acute private care is still delivered in stand-alone psychiatric hospitals.

Keywords

Irelandpsychiatry deinstitutilisation1963–2013
Type
Historical
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 347 - 352
Copyright
© College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Basaglia, F (1968). (ed) L’Instituzione Negata. Rapporta da un ospedale psychiatrico. Einaudi: Turin.Google Scholar
Commission of Inquiry on Mental Illness (1966). Report. The Stationery Office: Dublin.Google Scholar
Department of Health (1984). The Psychiatric Services -Planning for the Future. Report of a Study Group on the Development of Psychiatric Services. The Stationery Office: Dublin.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Children (1996). Report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals for the Year 1995. The Stationery Office: Dublin.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Children (2006). A Vision for Change. Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy. The Stationery Office: Dublin.Google Scholar
Foucault, M (1961). Histoire De La Folie En L’age Classique. Gallimard: Paris.Google Scholar
Fuller Torrey, E (2013). American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Health Treatment System. Oxford University Press: USA.Google Scholar
Goffman, E (1961). Asylums. Essays in the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Doubleday: New York.Google Scholar
Health Research Board (2001). Census of Irish Psychiatric Units and Hospitals 2001. Health Research Board: Dublin.Google Scholar
Health Research Board (2010). Census of Irish Psychiatric Units and Hospitals 2010. Health Research Board: Dublin.Google Scholar
Health Research Board (2013). Census of Irish Psychiatric Units and Hospitals 2013. Health Research Board: Dublin.Google Scholar
Health Service Executive (2013). Data from the Performance Indicator Scheme as supplied to the Hearth Research Board.Google Scholar
Jones, K (1960). Mental Health and Social Policy. Rutledge and Kegan Paul: London.Google Scholar
Linehan, S, Duffy, K, Wright, D, Curtin, B, Monks, K, Kennedy, HG (2005). Psychiatric morbidity in a sample cross section of male remand prisoners. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine 29, 128–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medico-social Research Board (MSRB) (1972). Census of Irish Psychiatric Hospitals 1971. Medico-social Research Board: Dublin.Google Scholar
Medico-social Research Board (MSRB) (1982). Census of Irish Psychiatric Hospitals 1982. Medico-social Research Board: Dublin.Google Scholar
Paumelle, P (1964). L’organisation psychiatrique de secteur pour les adultes. In L’experience de santé mentale du 13 ieme arrondissement, pp. 72–75. CENAF: Paris.Google Scholar
Tooth, G, Brooke, E (1961). Trends in the mental hospital population and their effects on future planning. Lancet 1, 710–713.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, D (1971). The Irish Psychiatric Census 1963. Medico-social Research Board: Dublin.Google Scholar
Weich, S, McBride, O, Twigg, L, Keown, P, Cyhlarova, E, Crepaz-Keay, D, Parsons, H, Scott, J, Kamaldeep, B (2014). Variation in compulsory inpatient admission in England: a cross-sectional multilevel analysis. Health Services and Delivery Research 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar