It should be legally mandatory for relatives to visit patients in psychiatric hospitals, said Mr Camillus Glynn (FF). This obligation should be applied especially in regard to long-stay patients. It was appalling that a proportion of patients who had been hospitalised for a number of years never saw a member of their family.
Mr Glynn, who has 33 years' psychiatric nursing experience, said the one thing that was pertinent to the whole concept of rehabilitation in the psychiatric services was the role played by patients' relatives.
The absence of such contact contributed to institutionalisation. In many cases, nursing staff and other residents filled in "with their little cake" for loved ones when it came to marking special events for patients. Mr Glynn was speaking in the debate on the 1999 Report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals.
Dr Mary Henry (Ind) said she agreed with the suggestion that legislation be introduced to cover drug trials. It must be very difficult to ensure that there was informed consent when people were suffering from psychiatric illness.
The greatest possible care should be taken to ensure that whatever research was carried out was looked at very carefully by ethics committees.