A FORMER healthcare worker who specialised in caring for patients with mental illness has raised concerns about the reduction of psychiatric beds across Northern Ireland as part of an overhaul of services.
Dolores Kelly, who was based in Craigavon Area hospital as an occupational therapist during the 1980s, said the massive re-organisation of services with a concentration on more community-based care had "nearly gone too far".
Ms Kelly also warned of the shortage of psychiatric nurses and reliance on agency staff, particularly at weekends, and the impact on the care of vulnerable patients.
"Mental health nurses can retire at 55 and what I am hearing on the ground is that there are not enough new nurses coming through, with many going to train in Scotland and England. The result is that trusts are turning to agency staff where you don't have that same continuity of care. They are also costing the health service a fortune," she said.
"I understand a re-organisation of services was required but there are now a hugely reduced number of beds from when I worked in the mental health sector. Many of these long-stay and secure inpatient beds are needed. The former St Luke's hospital in Armagh had literally hundreds of beds.
"We have now created many specialist community services in the field of mental health and addiction but it has nearly gone too far with 24 hour response times which are very budget driven by a hierachy of managers."
In 2008, the Southern Trust opened a new purpose-built mental health facility, the Bluestone unit, at Craigavon Area Hospital with 74 beds.
The main "forensic" or secure beds for offenders with mental health illnesses are currently at Knockbracken in south Belfast, which provides "medium security".
A Criminal Justice Inspectorate report warned in 2010 that the north required a high security hospital for prisoners with serious mental health problems. Experts said at the time that almost 80 per cent of male prisoners on remand and half of female prisoners have personality disorders.
The north's most dangerous mentally-disordered offenders are sent to Carstairs in Scotland.
