Development and evaluation of a new occupational therapy service in a mental health facility in Ireland

Abstract

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a six month pilot occupational therapy service, established in 2007 in St. Brigid’s Hospital, Ardee Co. Louth, a rural psychiatric hospital in Ireland. The lead up to the development of the service, following an inspection at the hospital by the Mental Health Commission, Ireland, is explained. The article describes the involvement of faculty staff from the Division of Occupational Therapy, University of Dublin, Trinity College, in developing a proposal for the service which included a research audit. A description of the service and audit result is given. The audit provides a summary of the views of both service users and staff involved with occupational therapy. It describes the extent to which the occupational therapy service met its target objectives and provided a service which was highly valued by service users and staff. This article provides an example of how a similar service might be reviewed to demonstrate evidence for it’s effectiveness.

Keywords:

• Mental health
• service development
• service review