The majority of Irish Mental Health services are delievered in a sectored model. Recently there has been some debate in the literature regarding the advantages and disadvantages of alternative models of service provision including dedicated in-patient teams. Due to a number of local and national factors a dedicated in-patient mental health team was developed in one of the two admission units in St. Ita’s Hospital in north county Dublin.

To study the operation of a dedicated in-patient psychiatric team in a stand alone psychiatric hospital.

We reviewed routinely collected service data between January 2009 and June 2010, including admission/discharge data, adverse incidents and mental health act data, to determine the effects of the dedicated in-patient team.

The dedicated inpatient team resulted in a 22% reduction in the in-patient population compared to the same time period prior to introduction (p<0.001). No significant difference was found in the rates of adverse incidents however a reduction was seen in the number of mental health tribunals in the same period.

Our study shows that a dedicated in-patient consultant lead teams can result in a significant reduction in hosptial admissions. Putative causative factors include greater availability of senior decision makers; improved responsiveness of medical staff due to lack of travel time between sites; a more consistent therapeutic environment due to reduced number of medical staff attending the unit.