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EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
€330,000: The amount of money developers need to build a single house in Dublin, according report by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI).
3.5 metres: The length of the LED ‘Pantibar’ sign on the popular Dublin gay bar. It may have to be removed after it fell foul of Dublin City Council planning rules.
2 cent: The amount of money people were going to be charged per kg of waste in their green recycle bins under a new charging system. The charges were scrapped this week.
190: The number of Irish troops that returned home this week after six months in the Lebanon.
240: The number of jobs set to go when the Roche pharmaceutical plant closes in Clare.
18,600: The number of non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Ireland. A new website launched this week lists all of their finances.
€27 million: The amount of money a Chinese film tycoon spent on an ancient letter written 936 years ago.
44%: The percentage of people that say they would like to see Leo Varadkar as the next leader of Fine Gael, according to a Claire Byrne Live/Amárach Research poll for TheJournal.ie that was carried out this week.
11,000: The number of recipes on the BBC’s website. The food section of the public broadcaster was going to be axed this week, but after a huge public outcry it was decided the recipes would be kept.
3,000: The number of homes that are being planned to be built on the Poolbeg glass bottle site.
1: The number of Labour TDs who went forward for the leadership of the party after Alan Kelly failed to get a fellow TD to nominate him. Brendan Howlin became the unopposed leader yesterday.
33: The number of extra hours teachers had to work under the Croke Park and Haddington Road agreements. ASTI members voted to stop working those hours this week.
10: Here are the top 10 favourite food brands for irish shoppers.
€380 million: The amount of money spent by the Irish State on pharmacy fees for medical card holders, according to figures seen by RTÉ Prime Time.
2: The number of people who came forward this week claiming to be heirs of Prince.
8,000: The number of people that have cancelled their direct debit with Irish Water since January.
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Every change to a perceived restrictive practice in mental health can often have negative effects in another direction. Make it more difficult to detain someone who needs psychiatric treatment and families, Gardai and accident and emergency departments will have to pick up the pieces. Make it more difficult to treat severely mentally ill inpatients with medication (without consent) and physical assaults on other patients and staff will increase as well as restraint and seclusion statistics.
Improvement on human rights issues are welcomed but be prepared for very serious negative outcomes on the other end with these Mental Health Act changes.
@Gareth Keenan: The evidence shows that the number of violent incidents against staff does not increase and actually reduces in some cases where there is less coercion and a human rights based approach https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26234329/. See Pennsylvania and Trieste examples https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/coercion-in-mental-health-care-finding-a-new-way
@Fiona Orla Mary Bridget Anderson: The Advocates for Human Rights in Mental Health Care is comprised of: Dr Fiona Morrissey, Disability Law Researcher, Lecturer, ATU, Adjunct Lecturer, NUI Galway; Jennifer Hough (Family Member); Dr Charles O’Mahony, School of Law, NUI Galway; Fiona Anderson, BA, LLM, Recovery Expert by Experience; Dr Liz Brosnan, Academic, Survivor Researcher, Recovery Expert by Experience; Rosy Wilson, Retired Lecturer, Recovery Expert by Experience; Dr Harry Gijbels, Retired Lecturer, UCC, Former Mental Health Nurse and Deirdre Lillis, Advocate, SHEP.
As a mental health social worker since 1994: While we never want anyone to be admitted to a psychiatric unit against their will, or receive treatment they initially refuse- the reality for those who care for a person ( professionals and family members) with a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia or bi polar is that a person can lose insight about their mental health, imagine people are plotting against them, neglect their health, stop paying bills, lose friends etc
Once a person recovers following treatment, helping to keep them well is the next challenge that we often as health care professions struggle to do because of limited resources and the rights that patients have to refuse treatment once discharged.
@frank browne: lack of ‘insight’ is not a grounds for detention or forced treatment under the MHA. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act is putting in place a system of supports to assist people to make decisions in these situations for this very reason, so we don’t have to treat people under coercion or without their consent.
@Fiona Orla Mary Bridget Anderson:
The Advocates for Human Rights in Mental Health Care is comprised of: Dr. Fiona Morrissey, Disability Law Researcher, Lecturer, ATU, Adjunct Lecturer, NUI Galway; Jennifer Hough (Family Member); Dr. Charles O’Mahony, School of Law, NUI Galway; Fiona Anderson, BA, LLM, Recovery Expert by Experience; Dr. Liz Brosnan, Academic, Survivor Researcher, Recovery Expert by Experience; Rosy Wilson, Retired Lecturer, Recovery Expert by Experience; Dr. Harry Gijbels, Retired Lecturer, UCC, Former Mental Health Nurse and Deirdre Lillis, Advocate, SHEP.
The only way for hospital admissions to decrease is better community programmes, better outreach, and early intervention.
Mental health is always the first budget to be slashed. There is limited psychotherapy available in the mental health service. If a person attends the mental health service referrals to primary care is rejected. Referrals for Safeguarding are rejected.
Fix the community system and you fix hospital admissions
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