A mental health unit for children and adolescents in Cork had just over half of its available beds open last year, despite having a large waiting list of young people who required treatment, new reports have shown.

The reports by the Inspector of Mental Health Services included 11 approved mental health centres that were inspected in 2012. Of the 11 centres, just one - St Patrick's University Hospital in Dublin - was found to be complaint with all rules and regulations. The other 10 centres ‘required further improvements'.

The inspectors found that the Eist Linn Child and Adolescent Inpatient Unit in Blackrock, Cork, only had 12 of its 20 beds open.

"Management reported that significant additional multidisciplinary posts were required to be filled to enable the opening of the remaining beds. On the day of inspection, there were 15 children on the admission waiting list," the report noted.

While the admission and discharge processes were found to be ‘excellent', the inspectors said that more attention needed to be paid to the maintenance of clinical files and documentation.

A report on the acute psychiatric unit in the Midwestern Regional Hospital in Ennis, Clare, found a number of serious issues. Inspectors found this unit to be very busy, with the bed occupancy rate often hitting 113%.

"This meant that residents were frequently required to sleep in inappropriate accommodation. On the day of inspection, one resident's bed was located on a corridor space with no provision for safe storage of personal belongings or privacy, and another resident was rummaging through these personal belongings," the report noted.

While improvements had been made in documenting individual clinical files and each resident had an individual care plan, workers were ‘not adequately resourced and health and social care professionals were stretched'.

"This limited the range of therapeutic services and programmes available to inpatients," the report said.

However, St Patrick's University Hospital was found to be compliant with all rules and regulations.

"The quality and extensive range of information and education for service users and carers is a very good example of good practice. The individual care plans, admission and discharge process and the wide range of therapeutic services and programmes were excellent," the inspectors added.

The reports were published by the Mental Health Commission.