The Chief Executive of the Mental Health Commission has expressed shock at the number of high and critical risks identified at the Acute Psychiatric Unit at Ennis Hospital.
The centre was found to have issues with fire safety and patient privacy following an inspection by the independent body.
The Mental Health Commission published three inspection reports this morning for facilities in Clare, Louth and Offaly.
Of these, the Acute Psychiatric Unit at Ennis Hospital was the sole facility to record a critical risk.
The critical risk related to risk management procedures.
Several issues were observed by the inspection team concerning the functionality of the fire doors.
On seven occasions, fire doors were noted to be held in an open position through the use of door wedges or other obstructions.
The door closer mechanism was broken on one fire door and absent on another.
Two sets of the double fire doors on the corridors were noted to have gaps above the recommended size between the meeting of the doors leaves.
After the inspection, the Mental Health Commission agreed with the centre that daily walkarounds would take place to identify safety risks.
Identified as high-risk, were concerns around patient privacy.
In the two-bedded room on the high observation unit, there was no privacy screening around either bed.
In another two-bedded room on the general acute unit, there were screening curtains in place, however, the curtains did not surround either bed completely.
Other high risk concerns centred around the decorative state of repair, therapeutic programmes, staffing, general health and the rules governing the use of seclusion.
The centre achieved an overall compliance rate of 71%, a 7% increase on the 64% it received in 2020.
