As part of the National Schizophrenia Awareness Week, Senator Mary O’Rourke launched Schizophrenia Ireland’s new research document, “Talking about Choice: Developing the dialogue for individual recovery and partnership”. ‘Talking about Choice’ is Schizophrenia Ireland’s second survey of service users’ experience. This piece of research, conducted on behalf of Schizophrenia Ireland by University College Dublin’s Centre for Disability Studies, builds on previous research.

Psychiatrists have called for improved funding and development of mental health services in Ireland. The Irish College of Psychiatrists, in a statement, has pointed out that an example of the lack of priority given to Mental Health is an inpatient unit for children that has been planned for almost 18 years but which has never opened and remains at the planning stage. It says in addition, adult units planned for general hospitals have not been progressed.

Soaring numbers of Northern Ireland families are registering as homeless, it has emerged. Numbers on the list jumped by around 20% to over 5,000 prompting sharp criticism of the Government for not accelerating public house building quickly enough. Family disputes or unsatisfactory accommodation was responsible for most of the cases. Homeless charity Shelter accused housing authorities of neglecting society`s most vulnerable people.

Care home residents in Northern Ireland concerned about migrant home care workers have been told delivery of health and social care services would suffer without the skill and professionalism of overseas staff. That’s the message from the Craigavon and Banbridge Community Trust after Dromore families called for a reassessment of the deployment of foreign nationals as care assistants in the area.

A new controversy has arisen over nursing home charges, with the news that health authorities in recent months have illegally taken into account the income of spouses in calculating the amounts payable by patients in long-stay care. The HSE and Department of Health have admitted that guidelines on charges brought in last year did not tally with relevant legislation. Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey expressed serious concern about the Ombudsman’s report of more illegal charges.

There are concerns that people with intellectual disabilities, who also have psychiatric problems, are being treated in unapproved centres where they could be put into seclusion, restrained or in some cases, locked up. Dr Susan Finnerty, Assistant Inspector of Mental Health Services, said this was “an over-riding concern” for the inspectorate. She expressed concern that such patients could also be improperly monitored.

Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) is failing to abide by rules limiting the fees patients in nursing homes should pay, Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has revealed. Despite a radical overhaul of how the elderly pay for care, the Office of the Ombudsman found several cases were the HSE was ignoring its own guidelines and at times the law. Under regulations in place since last year, long-stay patients can only be charged on the basis of their own income or pension.

Six residential homes for elderly people in the Lisburn and south Down areas are facing an uncertain future. The Down Lisburn Health Trust is planning to reduce the number of beds, forcing the closure of two homes. A number of factors will be taken into consideration including the state of the building, occupancy rates and the re-deployment of staff.

A government-backed positive-parenting campaign should be launched to help carers develop alternatives to slapping, a charity said yesterday. The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children urged the Irish government to show its support for parents by launching a state-funded campaign to help people use the most effective parenting methods.

Ulster’s jailed rapists have been spending, on average, less than four years behind bars, it can be revealed today. While the average sentence for rape handed down by Northern Ireland’s courts from 1999 to 2003 was seven and a half years, the controversial 50% remission policy here meant that rapists were automatically freed after serving, on average, slightly more than three years. Statistics released by Criminal Justice Minister David Hanson, in response to a parliamentary question, show that over that five year period 52 people were convicted and jailed for rape. During that time the highest annual average sentence passed down by the courts was eight years.