Report finds four areas of psychiatric facility in Waterford to be 'high risk' non-compliant
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“The approved centre is not a purpose-built facility and is a confined space.”
This is according to a recent report published by the Mental Health Commission of an inspection carried out at the Department of Psychiatry in University Hospital Waterford.
In 2024, the centre had seven non-compliances. In 2025, that number dropped to four. The overall compliance rate was 89%, up 8% from 2024.
Three of the non-compliances were related to the maintenance of the building, all of which were deemed to be high risk, although none were classed as critical. The report stated that, “Some window mechanisms were broken, and some resident safes (for valuables) were also broken. Bedside shelving was missing from a number of rooms.”
In an anonymous questionnaire, some of the patients in the facility reported that the showers often flooded the floor of the bathrooms and the toilets were frequently blocked.
Privacy was another issue raised in the report. There were no locks on the inside of five of the six single bedrooms. This was considered to be another high-risk non-compliance.
Privacy issues were present in a report presented to the inspectors, put together by a Peer Advocacy in Mental Health representative. In it, one of the patients said, “A male patient came into the female unit; this shouldn’t be allowed.”
The report identified the need for a full-time mental health pharmacist as it found the ordering, prescribing, storing and administration of medicines was non-compliant. It wrote, “There were a number of omissions in relation to medication administration” relating to medications administered to patients in the facility.
Although several issues were raised in the report, the facility was also praised. The report revealed, “There was a very proactive and passionate leadership team…dedicated to the provision of human rights-based person-centred quality care.”
One of the patients reported to the inspector, “The Department of Psychiatry is exceptional. If I had known this service was here, I would’ve come in sooner.”
