{"id":359014,"date":"2025-12-20T00:35:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T00:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/359014\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T00:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T00:35:20","slug":"radical-overhaul-called-for-following-mistreatment-findings-at-bloomfield-hospital-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/359014\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Radical overhaul\u2019 called for following mistreatment findings at Bloomfield Hospital \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mistreatment of some patients at a mental health hospital<\/a> in south Dublin<\/a> has been described as \u201cdevastating\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d by the Minister of State for Mental Health. <\/p>\n

Mary Butler said Bloomfield Hospital in Rathfarnham had been obliged to disclose these issues to its regulator, adding that its failure to do so was \u201cdisappointing\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, The Irish Times reported on the findings of an independent investigation into the mental health facility<\/a>. The investigation document highlighted mistreatment of residents.<\/p>\n

According to the investigation, commissioned by senior management at the hospital, patients were left soiled for an \u201cunacceptable period\u201d, \u201cslapped\u201d on the leg, cursed at and threatened with an injection to improve co-operation with staff.<\/p>\n

Ms Butler said she was not aware of the concerns at the hospital until late on Tuesday evening, when she was given a briefing in advance of the story breaking. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s completely unacceptable to me that Bloomfield were aware of challenges, that they carried out an inspection, they didn\u2019t inform me as Minister, they didn\u2019t inform the Mental Health Commission and they certainly didn\u2019t inform the HSE, which has a service-level agreement with them in relation to the care of some of the most vulnerable people in our country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was devastating, upsetting actually. It\u2019s simply unacceptable to me that there would be issues over incontinence wear in this day and age.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mental Health Commission<\/a> commenced an unannounced inspection of the premises on Tuesday in light of the issues highlighted.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the commission said it \u201ccannot comment on current inspections and ongoing regulatory enforcement as this could prejudice any action we may take\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Butler said she will speak to the commission on Thursday and they will compile an inspection report. Asked if she has concerns about the management of the hospital in light of these issues, Ms Butler said she will read the commission\u2019s report and speak to them, \u201cand then I\u2019ll decide from there\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Inside Bloomfield Hospital: what investigators found after whistle blown on patient careOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Stephen McMahon, head of the Irish Patients\u2019 Association, described the allegations as \u201cserious failures in care\u201d that should have been disclosed to the relevant bodies. <\/p>\n

\u201cMental health patients have the same rights and protections as any other patient,\u201d he said, adding that they deserve the same accountability and safeguards as those in the rest of the health system.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s health spokeswoman, Marie Sherlock, said the findings of the report call into question the Mental Health Commission. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely appalling that that standard of care would prevail in this day and age,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so distressing to think of someone eating their supper while soiled. It doesn\u2019t appear this is one instance or one patient, it appears to be a cultural issue here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an independent investigator brought in, but where was the appropriate regulator? Even if they weren\u2019t informed, we need to know what their processes are in terms of detecting this.\u201d <\/p>\n

Liam Quaide, mental health spokesman for the Social Democrats, said patients and their families place \u201cimmense trust\u201d in services like Bloomfield at times of \u201cmajor vulnerability\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scale of what has been uncovered in Bloomfield calls for an Oireachtas Health Committee session so families can be assured that there will be a radical overhaul of the service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chairman of the Oireachtas health committee, P\u00e1draig Rice, said the \u201charrowing reports of mistreatment\u201d must be \u201curgently addressed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch appalling breaches should never have taken place,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

A spokesman for HSE Dublin and Midlands said it was only made aware of the issues at the hospital on Tuesday. It added that it is engaging with Bloomfield \u201cto fully understand the matters raised and to ensure that any issues identified are addressed appropriately\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe HSE\u2019s priority at all times is the safety, dignity and wellbeing of patients,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mistreatment of some patients at a mental health hospital in south Dublin has been described as \u201cdevastating\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,145188,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-359014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mental-health-commission","11":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}