Survey: People with psychological illness are more likely to be prescribed drugs and admitted to a psychiatric hospital as the number of healthcare professionals looking after them decreases, new research to be published this week shows.
Based on a 2002 survey of consultant psychiatrists practising in the Republic, researchers at Waterford General Hospital (WGH) have concluded:
there was a significant correlation between the size of clinic teams and the number of non-drug treatments provided to patients;
a strong negative correlation exists between team size and the rate of psychiatric admission in the area;
the size of clinical teams differed significantly between health boards;
there was a four-fold difference in personnel numbers between the most and least resourced psychiatric teams.
Dr Stephen Browne, consultant psychiatrist at WGH, and his colleagues Dr Noel Sheppard and Dr Michael Arisa will present the results of a national survey on the structure of adult psychiatry services to the annual general meeting of the Irish College of Psychiatrists in Galway on Friday.
"Psychiatric services here are under-resourced. For the first time we have provided evidence that the size of psychiatric teams influences outcome - whether the patient is admitted to hospital and whether he or she is offered a full range of treatment," Dr Browne told The Irish Times yesterday.
An analysis of the availability of individual psychiatric team members found that 83 per cent of consultant psychiatrists working in the public health system had no access to a psychotherapist, while 76 per cent had no access to a family therapist. Occupational therapists, who are crucial to the patient achieving personal independence, were not available to a third of practising psychiatrists.
Two-thirds of public sector psychiatrists did not have access to an intensive care facility for seriously ill patients. According to the study, deficiencies within in-patient psychiatric units mean long-stay patients remain inappropriately on acute assessment wards.
"There is evidence of significant inequality between health board areas in the development of multi-disciplinary teams," the authors state. They said they hope the data will help to "address recent assertions regarding the perceived over-reliance on pharmaceutical treatments".
Although the Minister for State at the Department of Health, Mr Tim O'Malley, has said he is committed to addressing deficits in psychiatric services, the latest figures show only 7 per cent of health service funding is directed to the care of psychological problems.
The survey follows last week's call by the Mental Health Commission for the number of people being committed to psychiatric institutions against their will to be reduced by at least half.