This article is from page 3 of the 2006-01-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
ENNIS Hospital is encountering additional pressure on bed space due to a new policy of allowing people with alcohol-related problems to detox in the hospital’s wards.
Last week, The Clare People revealed that the highest proportion of admissions to Ennis’s psychiatric unit in 2004 was people with alcohol-related problems.
The figures supplied by the Health Research Board show that people with alcohol disorders accounted for 22.5 per cent, or 134 of the 597 admissions to the acute psychiatric unit in Ennis.
However, arising from a new policy put in place by the Health Service Executive (HSE), those people with alcohol-related problems are now being admitted to Ennis Hospital instead of the psychiatric unit.
Already, the Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) has complained this year of overcrowding at the hospital and a hospital spokeswoman said that the policy of admitting people with alcohol problems is adding to the pressure on bed space.
She told The Clare People : “of course it adds to the pressure on beds as every new referral does, but we are dealing with it as we have to.”
She added that those admitted are cared for in the hospital’s wards, while an out-patient service is also provided. The spokeswoman said that psychiatrists also attend those presenting with alcohol problems at Ennis Hospital. The admissions are made to Ennis Hospital through GP, or self-referrals.
Consultant psychiatrist, Dr Moosajee Bhamjee said that the change in policy has freed up much needed bed space in the psychiatric unit. However, he added: “there is still pressure on beds on the acute unit.”
Dr Bhamjee said that the next report by the Health Research Board will show a very large decrease in people presenting with drink problems at the acute unit.
However, Dr Bhamjee said he has “personal reservations” over the new policy.
“The patients are not kept as long in the medical wards as they would be in the psychiatric wards. Also, the psychiatric staff would have built up a relationship with a number of the patients over a number of years,” he said.
Dr Bhamjee said that after detoxing in the medical wards, or as out-patients, patients are then referred to the Bushy Park Treatment Centre, addiction courses, or the local office of Sláinte.
On the 13 or 2.2 per cent admitted for eating disorders to the acute psychiatric unit in 2004, Dr Bhamjee said that the vast majority would be suffering from anorexia and that the age-profile of those being admitted with the condition is lowering all the time.