The Irish College of Psychiatrists (ICP), along with patient representatives, have strongly criticised Government plans to transfer the Central Mental Hospital from Dublin to a site on the Meath border. Muiris Houston, Medical Correspondent, reports.
The decision to relocate the Dundrum facility adjacent to a new prison complex was described by the chairwoman of the Irish College of Psychiatrists, Dr Kate Ganter, as "stigmatising the most disadvantaged group in society" and a "totally retrograde step".
According to figures obtained by The Irish Times, 35 per cent of patients currently resident in the Central Mental Hospital have never been charged with a crime. They have been admitted to the hospital under Section 208 of the 1945 Mental Treatment Act, because they have exceeded the capacity of local services to manage them safely.
Dr Ganter said the figure showed that a substantial minority of patients at the hospital have not gone through the criminal justice system.
Referring to comments by the Minster for State at the Department of Health, Mr Tim O'Malley, that the new Central Mental Hospital would have a separate entrance, Dr Ganter said there must be a clear difference between the governance of prisons and the management of hospitals.
"If the Central Mental Hospital is to share a site with a prison, we do not feel that walls are a sufficient demarcation".
She said the Minister had not contacted the ICP prior to making his decision.
Ms Kaye Marshall, a spokeswoman for the relatives and carers group at the Central Mental Hospital, said they were in a "state of shock and bewilderment".
She described the proposal to combine a prison and a hospital on the same site as "warehousing patients".
"The stigma that is currently attached to the mentally ill will be reinforced and ringfenced. Their disability will be criminalised. The proposal is a naked form of blatant discrimination."
Ms Marshall said that carers were conscious of the importance of family support in the rehabilitation of patients and moving the hospital to an isolated location would threaten this input.
The decision has also drawn criticism from Schizophrenia Ireland, a mental health advocacy group.
Its director, Mr John Saunders, said "the new site in Thornton Hall will lead to the criminalisation of the Central Mental Hospital and its client population".
He added that the decision to relocate the hospital adjacent to a new prison had more to do with economies of scale and administrative convenience than the therapeutic needs of patients.
Asked whether he had considered selling part of the Dundrum site and using the proceeds to rebuild the Central Mental Hospital, Mr O'Malley said: "Yes, this possibility was considered very carefully by a review group . . . and the decision arrived at was to opt for construction of a brand new, state-of-the-art facility on a green-field site in the Greater Dublin Area".
