A critical report about the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum has vindicated many of the complaints made by patients' relatives, Schizophrenia Ireland said yesterday.
The organisation's director, John Saunders, said the organisation regularly received complaints from relatives about the unnecessary use of security and the unnecessary and unsupervised use of seclusion and restraint at the hospital.
He said families had also expressed concern about the lack of privacy and respect for the dignity of patients.
Last week, a Mental Health Commission report found that a number of practices in the Central Mental Hospital infringed on patients' rights and dignity and impacted on the standard of clinical care available to them.
It also expressed concern regarding services for female patients and questioned the need to have male staff involved in the restraint of women patients.
The report found that patients were still having their mail monitored despite legal advice that this should not happen.
Dr Harry Kennedy, clinical director at the hospital, said the report had also acknowledged the major improvement in services in recent years. "A huge amount of progress" had been made in areas such as the use of seclusion.
Schizophrenia Ireland called on the Health Service Executive and Central Mental Hospital management to act immediately to put "a more enlightened and progressive care regime" in place.
