The North Dublin Old Age Psychiatry service — survey of patients referred in the first six months

1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margo M. Wrigley ◽  
Miriam A. Gannon

AbstractIn Ireland, the demographic pressure of greater numbers of elderly people surviving longer with an attendant increase in the prevalence of dementia and depression compounded by the running down of old mental hospitals and the closure of smaller general hospitals has provoked debate on the need for Old Age Psychiatry (Psychogeriatric) Services.The first Old Age Psychiatry service in the Republic of Ireland started in North Dublin in January 1989. Detailed information on all referrals (173) assessed in the first six months of operation was collected and is presented. The findings are discussed in the context of the stated government policy of caring for the elderly within the community setting.

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Foley ◽  
Aideen Freyne

AbstractWith advancements in medical science over past decades, our aging population has increased substantially. Census studies in 2001 showed that 429,100 of the population of the Republic of Ireland were aged 65yrs and older, making up 11.2% of the overall population. While the overall population of the Republic is expected to remain stable over the next ten years, the demographic projections for the elderly population is for significant growth: numbers of over 65yrs are expected to increase by nearly 108,000 people between 1996 - 2011, comprising over 14.1% of the overall population. In particular, our communities will contain a much higher proportion of octogenarians and nonagenarians: at present 21% of our over 65's are 80 yrs or older; by 2011, it is projected that this number will increase to 25%. In tandem, the prevalence of dementia will increase.In 2000, it was estimated that 31,000 people suffered with dementia in the Republic of Ireland, and this figure is expected to increase by 5000 cases per year between 2001-2011. The ultimate outcome of this demographic shift, will be higher demands on medical services for older people, especially geriatric medicine and old age psychiatry. This paper will focus on two particular aspects of management which will increasingly impact on the work of old age psychiatrists – medicolegal issues and management issues in dementia.


1988 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 428-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Gehlhaar

Psychiatric services for the elderly are evolving rapidly. The Government has recently reiterated that this area needs special attention. The reasons for upheaval are well-known: the changing age structure of the population, the historical neglect of the elderly mentally ill and a growing emphasis on community-based approaches in place of traditional institutional solutions. In the London area and elsewhere, adjustment has been complicated by geographical transplantation from old suburban mental hospitals to locally situated units, often within district general hospitals. New specialist services also suffer from the effects of financial stringency and inadequate recruitment. These and other changes have ensured that the process of restructuring services has been difficult. Planners have had few precedents to fall back on, and have been heavily dependent on available guidelines. There has been comparatively little information available about how effectively services work in practice.


2015 ◽  
Vol 207 (5) ◽  
pp. 440-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walid Khalid Abdul-Hamid ◽  
Kelly Lewis-Cole ◽  
Frank Holloway ◽  
Ann Marisa Silverman

BackgroundThere is little research evidence as to whether general adult psychiatry or old age psychiatry should look after old people with enduring mental illness.AimsTo compare the extent to which general adult and old age psychiatric services meet the needs of older people with enduring mental illness.MethodA total of 74 elderly patients with functional psychiatric disorders were identified by reviewing the notes of patients over the age of 60 living in a defined inner urban catchment area. Data were collected on the morbidity and needs of the sample. Needs were assessed using the Elderly Psychiatric Needs Schedule (EPNS).ResultsThe participants in contact with old age psychiatry had significantly fewer unmet needs compared with those in contact with general adult psychiatry (2.8 v. 5.6, t = 2.2, P<0.03). Total needs were not significantly different between those managed by old age and general adult services (8.0 v. 6.5 respectively, t = 1.2, P = 0.2).ConclusionsThis study found that old age psychiatry services were better placed to meet the needs of elderly people with mental illness. This finding supports the need for a separate old age psychiatry service.


2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
I O Nnatu ◽  
F Mahomed ◽  
A Shah

The population of the elderly in most developed nations is on the increase. Furthermore, the prevalence of mental disorder amongst elderly offenders is high. The true extent of `elderly' crime is unknown because much of it goes undetected and unreported. This leads to a failure to detect mental illness in such offenders. Court diversion schemes may improve recognition of mental illness but these schemes usually tend to deal with the more severe crimes. This may result in an overestimation of the amount of serious crime committed by the elderly and a failure to detect mental illness amongst those who commit less serious crimes. Efforts to service this hidden morbidity call for multi-agency collaboration. Improved detection and reporting of crimes is essential if mental health difficulties in the elderly are not to go unnoticed. The needs of elderly mentally-disordered offenders are complex and fall within the expertise of old age and forensic psychiatry, without being adequately met by either one. Therefore, consideration should be given to the development of a tertiary specialist forensic old-age psychiatry service.


AL-HUKAMA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 483-506
Author(s):  
Roisul Umam Hamzah

This is a field research that analyzes the marriage suitability of elderly people in Socah, Bangkalan under the theory of maqasid shari'ah. The elderly marriage is officially conducted at KUA (Religious Affairs Office) of Socah for different reasons, namely: on the basis of coercion to the bride so that the family relationship does not break up, resulting in reluctance, on the basis of family compassion and encouragement. It is because the bride is an old maid and is his own niece on the basis of mutual love, avoid immorality and seek peace of life in old age. All couples can fulfill both material and non-material obligations, although not as perfect as a young couple. Some husbands do not want to have children for fear of not being able to support even though in this case the wife really wants it. Thus, the marriage of the elderly in Socah is sometimes appropriate and not in accordance with the maqasid shari'ah. The suitability in question is in terms of hifz al-din (protecting religion) and hifz al-mal (protecting wealth), while its inadequacies are in terms of hifz al-nasl (protecting offspring), because of their desires to have offspring and in terms of hifz al-nafs (protecting soul), and hifz al-'aql (protecting ratio), because of differences in descent have the negative effect on family disharmony that can interfere with the soul and mind. In this case, an intense dialogue and approach must be made to the couple to be more open and understand each other.


2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Murray ◽  
Robin Jacoby

This article aims to provide a practical overview concentrating on civil legal aspects of psychiatric care for the elderly. We limit ourselves to English law (which also has jurisdiction in Wales; Scottish and Northern Irish law may be similar, but not identical). Civil law can, in turn, be divided into statute law (legislation provided by Parliament) and common law (the UK, unlike some European countries, has a strong tradition of law based on previous rulings by judges).


1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 612-613
Author(s):  
Stephen Dover ◽  
Christopher McWilliam

The co-existence of physical and psychiatric illness in so much of the elderly population poses diagnostic and therapeutic problems for psychiatrists, geriatricians and general practitioners alike, with the presence of physical illness strongly influencing and sometimes limiting the options for treatment of the psychiatric illness. Recognition of this has resulted in the Section of Old Age Psychiatry of the Royal College of Psychiatrists recommending that senior registrar training in old age psychiatry should include a one month attachment to an approved geriatric medicine unit.


1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-16
Author(s):  
Dawn Black ◽  
Elspeth Guthrie ◽  
David Jolley

The old age psychiatrist's role has been evocatively described as “physician to the soul of the elderly”. A more practical definition is psychiatrist to patients over the age of 65 with both functional and organic illnesses.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
George R. Boyer

This paper examines the extent of local government support for the elderly, in the form of poor relief, in Victorian England. It presents newly constructed estimates of old age pauperism rates for each of England's ten registration divisions from 1861 to 1908, the year the Old Age Pension Act was adopted. My estimates show that the share of persons aged 65 and older receiving government assistance in the nineteenth century was far larger than most contemporaries, and many historians, believe. The share receiving poor relief declined after 1871, largely as a result of changes in relief administration, but on the eve of the adoption of the Old Age Pension Act more than one in five persons over 65 was in receipt of public assistance. In sum, government support for the elderly is not a post-welfare state phenomenon. Old age pauperism rates differed substantially across registration divisions and in general were higher in southern than in northern England. I present evidence that much of the north-south differential was due to differences in wage rates and employment opportunities and differences in the administration of poor relief, although differences in welfare customs might have played a role.


1989 ◽  
Vol 155 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Benbow

Electroconvulsive therapy is an important treatment in the depressive states of late life, and there is general agreement about the indications for its use in old age psychiatry. Indeed, old age may be associated with a better response to ECT than that in younger age groups. The additional risk involved through physical problems in the elderly is not great when compared with that of continuing depression and of the side-effects of alternative treatments. Temporary memory disorders and confusion may occur, but are minimised if unilateral electrode placement is used. Some patients treated with unilateral ECT do not respond, but will respond to bilateral treatment. Anxiety over unwanted treatment effects, which can lead to ineffective treatment of depressive illness, must be outweighed by knowledge of the dangers of leaving depression untreated in old age.


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