Patient privacy and fire safety are among the concerns contained in a new report on Ennis’s Pyschiatric Unit.
The compliance rating of the county town’s mental health facility has dropped by almost 10%, following an inspection by the Mental Health Commission.
The Mental Health Commission conducted an announced annual inspection of the Acute Psychiatric Unit at Ennis General Hospital between November 7th and 10th last year.
The facility provides acute adult mental health care, psychiatry of later life, mental health rehabilitation and mental health care for people with intellectual disabilities.
37 residents were in attendance on the day of inspection including 11 detained patients and 12 who had been in the centre for more than six months.
Inspectors recorded five high-risk non compliances, including in the area of privacy as observation panels on bedroom doors in one unit were not fitted with blinds, curtains or opaque glass.
It found that the centre wasn’t kept in a good state of repair, with visible dust, stains and damage to property observed, while medicine management also presented as a problem, as on two occasions, one resident’s records didn’t show if required medication was administered.
Although an appropriately trained staff member was on duty at all times, not all staff had completed mandatory training in basic life support, fire safety, and the prevention and management of violence and aggression, or mandatory training in the Mental Health Act 2001.
Furthermore, concerns were raised around the use of mechanical restraint as in one instance of its use, the file didn’t record the duration of the order nor the review date for its use.
The Acute Psychiatric unit recorded a compliance rating of 77% – down from 86% last year – and has committed to corrective and preventative action in all areas of non-compliance going forward.
