Mental Health Commission publishes 2023 Annual Report
The Mental Health Commission (MHC) has published its 2023 Annual Report which sets out its work to promote, encourage and foster the establishment and maintenance of high standards and good practices in the delivery of mental health services.
The report details how the organisation’s programmes of registration, inspection, monitoring and enforcement continued to support providers and hold services to account. The publication of both national and individual centre inspection reports ensured a transparency for the public to clearly understand both the strengths and weaknesses of services.
Throughout 2023, the MHC continued to enhance its core objectives to drive standards, improve quality, and safeguard service users by working with all stakeholders. It supported the continuing roll out of ‘Sharing the Vision’, Ireland’s mental health strategy, and worked with government to strengthen the quality and regulatory infrastructure which vindicates human rights of all persons who use mental health services.
The report also shows how the MHC engaged in several quality improvement initiatives across 2023, including the publication of the new ‘National Quality Framework: Driving Excellence in Mental Health Services’; the ongoing development of standards for community mental health services; and the launch, with the World Health Organization, of the ‘Quality Rights’ initiative - a training module designed to support people to understand a human rights model of mental health care.
“With the service user at the centre of our work, we once again delivered a programme of regulation in 2023 which targeted risk and promoted quality and safety in services,” said the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Commission, John Farrelly.
“In his first report as Inspector of Mental Health Services, Professor Jim Lucey points to the fact that acute inpatient centres are an essential part of our mental health service and require planned, strategic investment. Currently, a number of acute inpatient centre providers, particularly the HSE, are struggling to meet minimum regulatory standards in key areas of staffing, care planning, risk management and premises.
“The Inspector has said that lower standards of compliance in these areas are associated with negative experiences for patients and staff alike and are not compatible with a human rights-based approach. The Inspector and the MHC continues to call for a targeted funded strategic investment programme in our public mental health system.”
The report also details how the MHC operates as the custodian of the process for vindicating the rights of patients who are involuntarily detained in approved centres. It notes that 3,638 orders for a mental health tribunal were made in 2023, with 1,915 of these orders revoked before hearing, and 1,753 orders going to hearing. It also identifies that the number of applications for involuntary detention by An Garda Síochána went down by 4%, while applications from HSE ‘Authorised Officers’ increased by just 2%, which is disappointing given the focus on the matter over recent years.
In 2023, the MHC saw the culmination of intensive work to deliver Ireland’s first ever Decision Support Service (DSS). This is a progressive service that puts Ireland to the forefront of vindicating an adult’s right to make decisions, supported - if necessary - by a new framework that is focused on their will and preferences.
Mr Farrelly concluded: “Our 2023 annual report transparently sets out the work of the MHC including our new DSS. At a time when society clearly recognises the value of mental health and decision supports, it is imperative that the State continues to invest in the expansion of public services to ensure that well-staffed multidisciplinary teams deliver person-centred services in a way that sustains hope, choice and dignity.”
