One of the country’s leading psychiatrists said the Mater Hospital has a “zero tolerance” approach when it comes to illicit drug use at its psychiatric wing — staff immediately kick the offender out.
Dr Patricia Casey said drug dealing is “a very regular problem” in the hospital, that has lead to increased security on the psychiatric ward.
Her comments come after patients at psychiatric units at Mayo General and the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Ennis lodged complaints with management about cannabis being openly smoked at the units. At Mayo General, a patient complained that cocaine was also being brought into the ward for use by patients.
Dr Casey said unprescribed drugs can play havoc with a person’s mental state: “There can be an interaction between the various drugs and this can make a depressed person more depressed and a psychotic person more psychotic.
“Often we see drugs like diazapene being brought in and passed around, drugs that are not prescribed for this particular person or persons. The people that we see coming in here are often people who have suicidal thoughts but if we find illicit drugs here, we discharge the person immediately. There is a zero tolerance approach and it doesn’t matter what kind of complaint the person has come in with.”
The Mater’s psychiatric wing once operated an open-door policy but now visitors have to be buzzed in by staff. Unannounced urine checks are also performed on patients, especially people with a history of drug abuse. As in Mayo General and the Regional in Ennis, staff often find out about drug use and drug dealing from other patients.
Source: Claire O'Sullivan, Irish Examiner, 07/05/13
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