Many psychiatric day hospitals and day centres are in premises "unsuitable for acute day hospital services" and many patients are inappropriately placed in them, a report by the Health Research Board has found.
Dr Dermot Walsh, co-author of the report, Psychiatric Day Care - an Underused Option, published yesterday, said the report found care was often delivered "in premises that were inadequate in size, design and decoration".
"In addition, patient activity rooms were sometimes lacking. Some nursing staff found it difficult to devise new activities for patients, because they were engaged in administrative work or felt they had too many patients to care for."
He said many of the day hospitals studied "were not served by a multidisciplinary team, including psychologist, occupational therapists and social workers." Consultant psychiatrists spent "limited time" in day hospitals.
Dr Walsh and his co-authors, Ms Rosalyn Moran and Ms Tara Hickey, also found problems with "inappropriate placement" of patients.
Following study of the report, the Health Research Board has developed guidelines aimed at improving day-services for psychiatric patients, dealing with the location and design of psychiatric day centres and day hospitals, staff training, admission policies, and assessment and discharge policies.
