A major cause of death in Irish men aged 15–24 is suicide and the rates for those aged 15–19 are amongst the highest in Europe. Despite concerns over suicidal ideation or behaviour, little research has been done in the Irish primary care context. We therefore aimed to carry out a study of Irish General Practitioners (GPs)’ experience regarding suicidal ideation or behaviour in children and adolescents.

The study design was a descriptive, cross-sectional, questionnaire survey. We randomly selected 480 GPs and invited them to participate via post.

In total, 198 GPs replied, representing a response rate of 41% with a sampling error of ±6.8%. In total, 184 of respondents (93%) saw more than 50 children and adolescent patients annually, however, presentations of suicidal ideation and behaviour were relatively rare, with 36% reporting seeing none, 58% seeing between one and five and 6% seeing more than five such presentations annually. In total, 119 (62%) of GPs reported a willingness to prescribe antidepressants for this age group. In total, 66% of GPs felt this was either ‘always’ or ‘usually’ a difficult patient group to manage, and the single most commonly reported difficulty by GPs was access to services [n=48 (33%)].

GPs reported that their management of children and adolescents with suicidal ideation or behaviour is often difficult. GPs play a key liaison role in the area of child and adolescent mental health, but our results indicate that GPs are also involved in the treatment of this patient group. However, ongoing education was not a priority according to GPs themselves.

To evaluate the clinical benefits and associated cost effectiveness of an intensive personalised support (IPS) approach for clients suffering from psychosis and co-morbid mild intellectual disability (ID).

Four individuals with a psychotic disorder and co-morbid mild ID participated in an 18-month IPS rehabilitative intervention. Biopsychosocial measures were used to evaluate clinical effectiveness. A cost analysis was undertaken to examine the cost effectiveness of the intervention.

Reductions in psychopathology including anxiety symptoms were noted in all individuals. In addition, increased functioning and quality of life were demonstrated in all cases. Overall cost reductions were noted in inpatient care, accommodation and legal/emergency expenses.

The IPS approach was clinically effective particularly in addressing individual’s psychosocial needs, psychological functioning, daily living skills and overall quality of life. Costs had decreased for three of the four individuals, ranging from a 17% to 46% savings. The findings highlight that the intervention was cost effective in most cases at this early stage. However, further research is necessary in order to ascertain if cost savings occur over time.

The asylum process has received a lot of recent media attention but little has been said about the psychological needs of those seeking or granted asylum. Many asylum seekers have experienced trauma and torture, which is associated with substantial psychiatric and psychological morbidity. The Spiritan Asylum Services Initiative (Spirasi) is Ireland’s national treatment centre for survivors of torture. The aim of this study was to examine the demographic profile of those attending Spirasi and to consider potential clinical implications of this.

We retrospectively analysed demographic data relating to the 2590 individuals who attended Spirasi over a 12-year period (2001–2012 inclusive).

The majority of attenders were asylum seekers (88%), male (71%) and from African countries. The mean age was 31.9 years. The rate of new referrals, as a percentage of Ireland’s asylum-seeking population, has stabilised at ~6% since 2008. Women are underrepresented among those who attend.

The number of new referrals to Spirasi is lower than expected given international estimates of torture prevalence and the impact this has on mental health. Clinicians working with populations of asylum seekers and refugees should sensitively enquire about such events and be aware of the available services. Female refugees and asylum seekers are underrepresented, especially from Asian and Middle Eastern regions. Psychiatric, psychological and general practice services need to respond flexibly to evolving patterns of migration and address potential barriers to access, especially among female refugees and asylum seekers.

To evaluate if n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and lipid levels are associated with episodes of self-harm or depression over a 10-year period.

We included 40 individuals who self-harmed and 40 controls. Episodes of self-harm and depression were ascertained and levels of depression, impulsivity, suicidal ideation and plasma lipid levels measured at baseline and at 10-year follow-up.

Further episode(s) of self-harm occurred in 26% of cases. Omega-3 PUFAs or lipids were not predictive of depressive or self-harm episodes. Baseline eicosapentaenoic acid levels were modestly correlated with suicidal ideation at follow-up and dihomo-γ-linolenic acid and arachidonic acid were modestly correlated with motor impulsivity at follow-up in cases.

Despite significant negative correlations at baseline between plasma lipids, n-3 PUFAs and psychopathology, these levels were not predictive of clinical outcome over a 10-year period. Further research however is required due to the relatively low sample size and the risk of selection bias due to loss to follow-up in this study.

The appropriate monitoring of patients on lithium therapy has been the subject of extensive research in the form of clinical audits and surveys culminating in the development of specific guidelines to help clinicians provide optimal care for patients on lithium. The concept of ‘shared care’ has also gained attention in the literature with various types of shared care interventions being introduced as potential ways of improving communication between primary and secondary care.

This article aims to (1) review the literature evaluating lithium monitoring practices in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the last 25 years and (2) determine whether locally agreed shared care agreements have the potential to improve monitoring quality.

A literature search was conducted using the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Academic Search Premier, CINAHL and PsychInfo. A total of 12 studies were selected for review including 11 audits/prospective chart reviews and one qualitative study using semi-structured interviews.

Overall, the quality of lithium monitoring seems to be improving throughout the years. However, none of the studies reviewed revealed complete adherence to monitoring guidelines. This may be due to a lack of effective communication between primary and secondary care. Several shared care interventions have been described in the literature but there is a paucity of studies concerned with the effects of local shared care arrangements designed for the specific purpose of lithium monitoring. Nonetheless, the extant data suggests that such agreements may help improve monitoring standards by allowing the responsibilities for managing the prescribing and monitoring of lithium to be more clearly defined and shared between primary and secondary care.