ADMISSIONS TO IRISH psychiatric units and hospitals have fallen from 19,619 in 2010 to 18,992 in 2011, the Health Research Board (HRB) has said. However, involuntary admissions rose as a proportion of all admissions from eight per cent to 9.5 per cent.

A growth in the delivery of mental health services in the community was one of the main reasons behind the fall, which saw the number of new admissions drop from 6,266 in 2010 to 6,129 in 2011, said Antoinette Daly, lead author of the report into admissions at the HRB.

The 45-54 age group were most likely to be admitted, with a rate of 632.5 per 100,000 while 54 per cent of all admissions were for single people. The unskilled occupational group had the highest rate of all (876 per 100,000).

The report found that:

• Depressive disorders, schizophrenia and mania accounted for 61 per cent of all admissions
• Depressive disorders accounted for almost one in three (29.5 per cent) of all admissions.
• 435  people under the age of 18 were admitted to inpatient psychiatric services

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