Mental health facilities require urgent investment to ensure that they are fit for purpose and are able to cope with any further surges of Covid-19, or other future pandemics, the Mental Health Commission (MHC) has said.

It has published a second review paper examining the impact and response to Covid-19 in residential mental health services.

It gathered significant data as part of its work to monitor and support 184 mental health services nationwide. Together, these facilities care for around 3,900 service users.

According to the MHC’s chief executive, John Farrelly, the weaknesses around premises as outlined in its paper “won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been reading our inspection reports over the past number of years”.

“One of our key recommendations in this paper is increased investment and targeted regulations to ensure all residential and inpatient mental health services are in modern, fit-for-purpose buildings, which comply with infection prevention and control standards.

“A more targeted regulatory framework will help to ensure that residents are provided with the surroundings and premises that will create dignity and hope, while protecting against the risk of future infection,” Mr Farrelly said.

The paper highlighted that those living in acute settings and long-term residential care units may be more susceptible to developing Covid-19. This is due to a number of reasons, including the fact that many services are still located in multi-occupancy, outdated buildings, which make infection control difficult.

The MHC also noted that frontline staff in mental health services “bore a significant burden” when it came to Covid-19. In fact, staff appeared to be at a higher risk of contracting the virus than residents.

A detailed analysis of 422 confirmed cases of Covid-19, which were reported

between March and July 2020, found that 64% were staff members, with residents accounting for the remaining 36%. Nursing staff were the most affected, accounting for 55% of all mental health staff who contracted the virus.

“In compiling the paper, we learned of numerous examples of how staff in mental health services worked extremely hard to support and protect residents who have been impacted by the pandemic.

“It is also evident from our findings that frontline staff in mental health services accounted for a considerable number of Covid-19 cases. The MHC wishes to acknowledge the sacrifices and tireless work of frontline staff in protecting residents,” Mr Farrelly said.

The paper made a number of recommendations, including more investment in buildings, the prioritisation of staff training in emerging infection prevention and control best practice, and more research into the experience of service users during the pandemic.

The paper can be viewed here.