A mental health expert says the policy of admitting psychiatric patients to emergency departments needs to be 'looked at'.
It comes after Fianna Fáil's mental health spokesperson Colm Keaveney claimed staff at the psychiatric unit in University Hospital Galway have asked the Health and Safety Authority to examine the facility, over patient safety concerns.
The HSA says it is aware of concerns at the unit, and is engaging with staff.
The complaints follow recent coverage of Professor Shane O'Neill's resignation as Beaumont Hospital's Clinical Director, over the assessment of pyschiatric patients in the Emergency Department.
Siobhán Barry is the Clinical Director of the Cluain Mhuire Service in Dublin. She told Newstalk's Breakfast that community centres should be the focus for mental health services - and not acute hospitals:
