Hot Topics

5,500 patients admitted to mental health hospital care in 2017

Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

A total of 5,500 patients were sectioned into mental health care a total of 7,700 times in 2017.The figure is stable, but is a slight decrease from previous years.

Figures from the Norwegian Patient Register form the basis of the Norwegian Directorate of Health’s report on coercion in mental health care from 2013 to 2017.However, stricter conditions in the legislation have led to a reduction in all areas where coercion is used in mental health care.

‘’We see a tendency for the time patients are under compulsory mental health care being down.Fewer are being transferred to compulsory care for a 24-hour stay, and figures from the control commission’s checks on compulsory mental health care after three months and one year show a decrease in the number of patients who have been under compulsory protection’’ said department director, Torunn Janbu, of the Norwegian Health Directorate in a press release.

There has also been a decline from 2016 to 2017 for the use of coercive measures in the case of short-acting drugs, while there has been an increase in the use of restraint and isolation.

More than 2,000 complaints were registered on the use of forced protection.The control commissions dealt with 1,400 of them and in 13% of the cases, the complainant was upheld.This is a slightly increasing proportion from previous years said the Norwegian Directorate of Health.

Preliminary figures for the first part of 2018 showed that the number of compulsory admissions again appeared to increase.It is unclear what lies behind this increase according to the Norwegian Directorate of Health.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today