Most people would assume that a stay in a psychiatric hospital nowadays would be for a relatively short period,and that not very many people in mental hospitals would be long-stay patients. Advances in mental healthcare now mean that more and more patients with mental health problems are treated in primary care or in community facilities, and usually if your condition is serious enough to warrant a hospital stay it will not be for long.

An evil child rapist who threatened to kill a social worker with a hammer was last night back on the streets of Ulster. Convicted paedophile James White made the grim threat to a counsellor in a therapy session related to his perverted past.

Carers, support groups and individuals affected by mental health problems and learning disabilities are united in their hopes of a fresh approach to services in Northern Ireland. As the findings of the Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability were finally presented to the Government, marking the conclusion of a four-year initiative, concerned parties waited in the Stormont Hotel for a response.

The HSE and medical bodies have clashed over whether the necessary resources are in place to facilitate new mental health legislation which came into force on 1st November. Standards of mental health care are set to improve as a result of the full implementation of the new Mental Health act from today, according to the HSE. Under the legislative change, patients involuntarily detained in psychiatric centres will be able to have their detention reviewed by independent panels within 21 days.

Divorce is bad for women’s health, according to a new US study. Researchers found that at first marital break-ups only affected mental health, but 10 years later those original problems had caused women’s physical health to deteriorate as well. Some 416 women in rural Iowa, 102 of them recently divorced, were interviewed three times in the early 1990s and again in 2001 for the study.

A new taskforce is to be established in response to a major review of mental health care in Northern Ireland. A new director for mental health and learning disability will also be put in place to take forward the recommendations of the Bamford Review.

The amount the government spends on mental health and learning disability services in NI should double within the next 20 years, a review has found. The Bamford Review, to report later, was set up to examine how services for people with mental illness or learning disabilities could be improved. One in four of NI’s population are affected by some form of mental illness at some point in their lives.

Pope Benedict XV has told Catholic bishops from Ireland that they must deal effectively with problems caused by priests who sexually abuse children. The Pope said the wounds caused by abuse run deep.

The husband of murdered Strabane pensioner Attracta Harron today challenged the Government to prove it is serious about scrapping Ulster’s controversial 50% remission policy for dangerous sex offenders.

A former teacher who is serving a prison term for sexually abusing young girls has been stripped of his OBE. Denis Edward Grant was jailed for three and a half years at Belfast Crown Court in April.