Government approves draft heads of bill to amend the Mental Health Act

The Government has approved the draft heads of bill to amend the Mental Health Act. The draft bill contains over 120 proposed changes including introducing guiding principles for adults and children into the Act enhancing the voice of people using mental health services. Provisions for consent to treatment will be brought in line with the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 and the Mental Health (Amendment) Act 2018.

The draft bill is the result of an extensive consultation between the Department of Health and key stakeholders over the past number of years.

The Government decision was welcomed by the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly and the Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler as well as mental health groups.

Minister Donnelly said: “it is an important step in ensuring that the rights of people accessing services are fully vindicated."

The Department of Health will work with the Office of the Attorney General and a formal bill will be drafted and sent to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health. The heads of bill will also be available on the department’s website.

For more information, please click here.

Specialist menopause clinics to be established nationally

Specialist clinics are set to be introduced across the country as part of a new approach to menopause care.

Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly announced that his department will be establishing Ireland’s first specialist centre at the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) on Holles Street in Dublin later this year. The new clinic will be supported by GPs, with a certified special interest in the area of menopause and clinical nurse/midwife specialists. Additional clinics are planned to open around the country in 2022.

Minister Donnelly said, “This is as an important part of an integrated solution to delivering better health experiences for women before, during and after the menopause.”

The announcement comes following a recommendation from the Women’s Health Taskforce, set up by the Department of Health in 2019 to improve the standard of women’s healthcare. Funding of over €150,000 will be provided through the Women’s Health Fund.

National clinical guideline on adult sepsis published

Earlier this month, the Department of Health published the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee’s (NCEC) National Clinical Guideline on Sepsis Management for Adults (including maternity).

The guideline aims to help healthcare professionals recognise and treat sepsis and septic shock in patients.

The initiative, launched on World Sepsis Awareness Day (13 September), is led by the HSE National Clinical Programme on Sepsis and supported by the Department’s Clinical Effectiveness Unit.

Welcoming the publication of the guideline, Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly said ,“building on work in previous years to improve sepsis management, I see the publication of this guideline as a further advance in improving the standard and consistency of care for patients with sepsis across the country”.

Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection and is more common in the very young, the elderly or those with a weakened immune system. The HSE is encouraging everyone to be aware of the signs and symptoms by asking ‘Could it be Sepsis?’.

Please see the HSE website for more information.

World Patient Safety Day 2021

World Patient Safety Day took place earlier this month to raise public awareness and engagement in health care safety and promote global action to prevent and reduce avoidable harm in health care.

Celebrated on 17 September, the theme of this year’s event was ‘Safe maternal and newborn care’ which aims to highlight and prevent the harm to women and babies that occurs due to unsafe maternal and newborn care during pregnancy, delivery and the first few days of life.

World Patient Safety Day is part of a World Health Organization (WHO) global campaign to ensure that patient safety is established as a global health priority.

The WHO has also called on healthcare leaders, facility managers and workers globally to adopt a set of 5 World Patient Safety Day Goals 2021 to improve maternal and newborn safety at the points of care, particularly around childbirth.

Further details of the WHO global campaign are available here.