Your Stay

It can be helpful to know what to bring with you to hospital. We share some information below on what can be useful to pack and how to get to our hospitals.

Click on the + symbols below to learn more.

• What to bring with you or to leave at home

  When you come into hospital, we encourage you to get up and dressed each day. Therefore, you should bring casual clothes, as well as pyjamas or night clothes. You should also bring appropriate clothes for the gym if you wish to use it. We recommend bringing enough clothes to last for at least a week, bearing in mind that your visitors may be able to bring you fresh clothes, or you will be able to access an external laundry service (see the “Amenities and services section” below for more).

  You will need to bring your toiletries with you. Towels and linens are provided.

  You can bring your mobile phone, an MP3 player or similar, and any other personal electronic equipment that you wish. Please be aware that we cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage.

  You can bring books or magazines with you if you wish also.

  Please be aware that you will need to bring your health insurer membership details (if applicable) with you at the time you are admitted. If you have any letters or referrals from your general practitioner (GP) or referring consultant, please also bring these with you.

  In general, you do not need to bring medication with you. However, if you are being admitted after 5pm on a weekday or any time over a weekend, we strongly recommend that you bring in any uncommon medication you may be due to take, especially high-tech or unlicensed medications. This is because these medications will not readily be available in the hospital out of hours.

  Information about your prescription medication will be gathered by our doctors and Pharmacy team at, or soon after, your admission and medication will be issued through our Pharmacy during your stay. Please help this process by bringing an up-to-date list of your medication with you.

  If you do bring in prescription medication, this can be held on your ward for collection by a family member or friends for up to seven days only. After this, medicines are sent to the Pharmacy team for destruction.

  For your safety, it is not allowed to bring razor blades with you. You can bring an electric razor with you. Please note that, if you are admitted to our special care unit, there may be additional restrictions on what you can bring for your safety and for that of other service users on the ward.

• How to get to our hospitals

  You can find maps to and travel information for our hospitals here. There is limited car parking at both hospitals, with several public transport routes to them also available.

We aim to make your admission to hospital as easy and smooth for you as possible. You can get more information on what you can expect during your admission and first few days in hospital; just click on the + signs to get more details.

• Your arrival

  You will be given a day and time for your admission, and it will be confirmed with you which hospital you will be receiving care in. A member of our Referrals and Admissions Service will contact you on the day before you are due to come to hospital to carry out a screening protocol as part of our infection control process.

  When you arrive at either of our hospitals, the first person you meet will be a member of our reception staff. If you arrive between 9am and 5pm on Monday to Friday or between 9am and 1pm on Saturday, reception staff will direct you to the Assessment Centre, where you will be greeted by the Admissions Officer or the Clinical Nurse Manager. If you arrive outside of those hours, reception staff or a member of nursing staff will notify the admitting doctor of your arrival instead. There may be a short wait if there are other people waiting for admission or during lunch hours, but we aim to keep your waiting period to a minimum.

  We recognise that coming into hospital can be difficult. We encourage you to ask a family member, relative or friend to come with you. Children are allowed in the Assessment Centre where you will be admitted, but they must be accompanied at all times by a supervising adult other than yourself.

• Your assessment and admission

  The Admissions Officer will take some information and complete the necessary admission forms with you. A comprehensive and thorough evaluation of your mental health will be carried out by the admitting nurse or doctor. This will provide a detailed understanding of your mental wellness and any potential concerns, needs and areas of risk that need to be addressed during your treatment. This assessment will cover areas such as your personal and family situation, work situation (if applicable) and social background.

  A doctor will also carry out a physical examination on your admission. Any risk factors which may be identified will be considered with a doctor.

  During your admission, you will be asked for your health insurer membership details, if they apply, and any referral letters or documents from your GP or consultant.

  After your assessment for admission, a nurse will bring you to your room or ward, and you will be given some time to settle in. Where you are staying depends on the treatment you need. If you are receiving care in SPUH, you will be staying on a ward: you may have a room to yourself or you may be staying in a bay with other people. If your care is being delivered in our Lucan hospital, you will be staying in either a single bedroom or a double bedroom.

  When you arrive at the ward, a team member will go through your bags with you, in your presence, to be sure everything you have packed is safe for you to bring into hospital with you. There will be a safety deposit box for your devices or small valuable items. Please note that we cannot take responsibility for any clothing and/or valuables you bring with you. We would appreciate if all valuables could be taken home by your family. If this is not possible, these valuables may be put into safe-keeping by a nurse on your ward, and you will be able to access them from our Patients Services Office. If there are any items which are not allowed into hospital, these can be brought home with the person accompanying you or may be confiscated (taken into safe-keeping) by the team.

  Each ward is staffed by a team of highly trained and skilled mental health nurses who are dedicated to deliver high-quality care to you. A nurse will conduct a further assessment with you when you arrive to your ward. The purpose of this assessment is to gain a deeper understanding of your needs, identify any potential risk factors and begin the development of your individualized care plan: the nurse will discuss this with you, ensuring that you are aware of your rights and what to expect. The nurse will gather more information about your mental health history, symptoms and current circumstances, actively listen to your responses, and make note of any relevant details. They will carry out a physical examination and note any physical complaints or concerns that may be related to your mental health. You will be provided with reassurance and emotional support throughout this.

• Your first few days in hospital

  Your initial days in hospital are designed to help you to begin the process of recovery and to adjust to your new surroundings, allowing you to rest and settle in to your new environment.

  During this time, you will take part in orientation. Nurses will show you around your ward, explain how things generally run, and go through what the routines are like. This will include practical information, such as showing you where you can access towels, linens and other helpful items. They will also show you to the dining areas and let you know when mealtimes take place. Healthcare assistants also run orientation tours of the hospitals and their facilities several times a week.

  You will be given a copy of our Service User Booklet, which gives you a wide range of information about the care and treatment we provide, about many of the practical things that are important to your stay, and about your rights and entitlements. The booklet also contains our Service User Charter.

  It is important to be aware that there may be a short period of time between when you are admitted and when you first meet your wider care team. Please be reassured that this time is used to allow nursing staff on your ward to observe and assess your needs more fully by conducting daily mental health assessments and interventions. An initial care plan will be commenced for you from admission. You can find out more about your care team in the “Multidisciplinary care” section below.

  You can register to use Your Portal. Your Portal is our online patient platform which enables you to access and share your own health-related information on a computer, smartphone or tablet anytime, anywhere. You can register for the portal through our website.

  In the portal, you can receive notifications from your care team, complete forms which contribute to your care and treatment, and access links to other resources and websites which provide helpful information. Our Service User IT Support (SUITS) team can help you with registering for Your Portal, as well as with some other technical assistance. We also have written and video guides to using Your Portal available, or you could attend a SUITS tutorial on Your Portal, which run twice a week. Information on how to join the tutorials will be shared with you.

  You may be provided with a device, like an electronic tablet, if needed, for the duration of your stay. This is provided by our SUITS team.

  Please be aware that, throughout your stay, rooms and wards are checked by nurses, and you will be asked to log when you leave the ward. Nurses on night duty will also check on you during the night to monitor your sleep pattern. This is done to ensure everyone’s safety and to identify if there are any supports, such as help to improve your sleep pattern, which we can provide.

In SPMHS, we take a multidisciplinary approach to your mental healthcare, which means that your treatment will combine a number of different specialties and activities.

You can learn more about this below. Click on the + symbols to find out more.

• Multidisciplinary team and care plan

  You will be assigned a multidisciplinary team (MDT). An MDT is a mental health team made up of a variety of professional staff including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, and more. The different professionals all have different areas of expertise, so that they can combine their knowledge and skillsets to best suit your needs. You can watch a video about MDTs here.

  You will meet with your MDT regularly to discuss your care plan and mental health recovery. A care plan is a set of goals for mental health treatment which you develop with your MDT, and this is reviewed and updated regularly throughout your recovery journey. It is individual to you and helps to ensure that you, your MDT and the people supporting you are all focused on your needs and working to achieve the same purpose. Your care plan puts you at the centre of your own mental health recovery.

• Key worker

  You will be assigned a key worker, who is the health professional responsible for making sure that you and your MDT work to your personalised care plan. The key worker may be a nurse, doctor, social worker, occupational therapist, psychologist, therapist or counsellor. They act as link between you and your MDT while you are in hospital and makes sure to stay in contact with you.

  Your key worker also liaises with your family members and carers where appropriate, as well as other healthcare professionals within our service. They also coordinate your discharge from hospital when that time comes.

• Medication

  You may be prescribed medication as part of your care plan.

  Our pharmacists will meet with you to talk about the medicines you were taking before you were admitted to make sure nothing has been missed. They also attend MDT meetings to discuss the most appropriate medicines for you, check the medicines prescribed are safe for you, order these medicines and provide information to you about new medicines that have been prescribed.

  The Pharmacy team will dispense your medication to nursing staff, who administer it to you on ward rounds. If you have any questions about your medication, your MDT pharmacist will be happy to answer these for you. We have lots of resources available to help you learn more about your medicines and medication safety: you can learn more about medication here.

• Appointments

  The appointments you attend will depend on your care plan. You will receive a weekly schedule of activities available to our inpatients. If you are referred to one of our therapeutic programmes, you will also receive a timetable for the programme. Your one-to-one appointments will be arranged by the treating clinician.

  At SPMHS, we offer remote access to a number of our services, which means they take place through phone, video and online technologies. You may be attending programmes through remote access. Some of your one-to-one appointments with clinicians will also take place remotely. If you wish to consult with a clinician in-person, this can be arranged: please let the clinician know this is your preference.

  You will be supported in accessing and using the technologies being used if you are attending a programme or appointment remotely. You can watch a video here on remote access to our services, or find more practical information on remote access here.

• Typical day

  In general, after you settle in and meet your MDT, a typical day as an inpatient goes something like the below.

  • 7am – wake-up call
  • 8am – breakfast
  • 9am to 1pm – programmes or appointments
  • 1pm – lunch
  • 2pm to 5pm – programmes, appointments, or MDT meetings
  • 5pm – dinner
  • 6pm – free time.

  Please remember that our nurses are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each day, they provide a range of interventions tailored to your unique needs and the recovery goals in your care plan. The ward-based nursing staff will review you and assess your current needs on a daily basis, documenting this review and updating your care plan as needed.

  In general, meals are served in the dining rooms of the ward. There may be some changes to the mealtimes above, depending on your ward. A trolley service provides tea, coffee and sandwiches mid-morning, mid-afternoon and late evening on each ward. If you have any dietary requirements, please let the nurses know so that arrangements can be made.

  There are periods of free time during the day. We have a wide range of activities available to support different aspects of your mental health recovery, and we encourage you to use this free time to get involved in these activities. However, you might not feel up to this when you are first admitted, and it’s important to rest until you feel ready to take part. A daily activity sheet is emailed to you and is also available on noticeboards, such as those on wards, or outside the Lecture Hall in SPUH to let you know of what’s coming up that day. See the “Making the most of your stay” section below to learn more.

• Visiting arrangements

  Contact and visits from family and friends is an important part of your treatment and recovery. We encourage contact between you and your family and friends, but please remember that you may be attending therapeutic programmes and activities during the day and may not always be available for visitors. It is important to make your family and friends aware of this so that visits can be arranged around these.

  You can find our visiting information here. You can discuss queries you have around visiting with nurses on your ward.

  There are lots of different areas throughout our hospitals where visits can take place. We also have a dedicated visiting room, The Wishing Well Room, in SPUH, which you can use if children are visiting you; this room is reserved for use when children are visiting, rather than for general visits. If you are in SPUH, access can be requested from reception staff. If you are receiving care in Lucan, access to The Wishing Well Room can be arranged for you; please speak to staff about this.

• Leaving hospital

  You might need to leave hospital at some points during your stay, such as for an appointment in another service. It is really important that you do not leave the hospital without permission: this can cause concern for people involved in your care, both in hospital and at home.

  If you need to leave the hospital, please discuss this with your nurse or an MDT member, who will do what they can to facilitate this. You will need to hand in a completed day or weekend pass from the nurse at reception before you can leave the hospital, and this will have a time listed on it that you need to be back by. If you do not return by this time, we may contact you by phone to check in on you. 

  The length of time you are in hospital depends on the level of care and support you need. You may be in hospital for a month to six weeks. You and your MDT will decide together when you are ready for discharge.

  When you are being discharged from hospital, follow-up care will be discussed; this may involve a follow-up appointment in one of our Dean Clinics, or attending a day programme or an aftercare group. This will all depend on your personal recovery needs.

We offer a range of facilities, activities and supports which you can access to complement your care and help in your mental health recovery. You can watch a video about our facilities and activities here, or keep reading and click on the + symbols below to find out more about the different supports available to you.

• Mental health information

  Our Information Centre is a free drop-in mental health information centre based in the main hospital building in SPUH. The centre is open to current inpatient service users. You may find it helpful to visit the centre to get guidance and help around mental health information and services relevant to you, to access its wide range of books and information on all aspects of mental health and wellness, and to get details of support groups and service user rights and entitlements. In addition, the Information Centre is a hub where you can find timetables, information on programmes and services, and much more to support your stay in SPMHS. If you are receiving care in SPUH, you can find the centre’s opening hours at its entrance. If you are in our Lucan hospital, you can call the Information Centre on 01 249 3469 or, if you wish to go to the centre, please talk to staff to make arrangements for this.

  If you are signed up to Your Portal, you can also find helpful mental health information and resources in its Library. See how to use the Library in Your Portal here.

  You may like to attend the morning lecture, which is an informational talk on a different mental health topic that takes place every morning. The talks are delivered by members of staff or representatives from our service user engagement groups.

  You can also take part in Pillars to Wellness, which is a recovery education programme that runs during the week. Through the programme, you can get information on our services and overviews of different mental health difficulties. It also provides information on a wide range of topics, such as what we mean by mental health, coping skills, stress, and sleep.

  From time to time, we run different events for service users, family members, and the general public. These can include informational talks and conferences, as well as campaign events, arts and culture events, and more. As well as being included in the daily activity sheet, information on these is available in the Media Centre of our website and in the Library of Your Portal. Past events can also be watched on our YouTube channel.

• Evening and recreational activities

  We offer a range of evening and weekend recreational activities. On weekday evenings, these generally run between 6pm and 8pm. Activities change from week to week, and are based on service user feedback. These include but are not limited to bingo, quizzes, movie nights, music sessions, performances, Tai-Chi, mindful yoga, Zumba, art and creative activities. Some activities take place in person, and others take place online.

  You can use our many different facilities during your stay to help you pursue and enjoy different hobbies and interests. Some of these facilities are based in SPUH; if you are receiving care in our Lucan hospital, we can make arrangements with you to easily access and use these facilities.

  • The art room is open to all inpatient service users to use. Here, you can take part in painting, drawing and other art activities. The opening times are made available to you, and you can book sessions with an art instructor to assist you.
  • Knitting, beadmaking and sewing facilities are available from the craft room. The opening times are made available to you. You can purchase knitting materials directly from the craft room and there is a small charge for beadmaking materials.
  • You can book in to take part in pottery in our pottery room. A pottery instructor is available during its opening hours, which will be shared with you.
  • Our music room, The Sound Lounge, offers a range of instruments available for playing. You can also bring in your own musical instruments. It can be accessed for an hour at a time during its opening hours; to access the music room, please speak to your MDT.
  • Our service user library is located in SPUH, close to the Lecture Hall. You can read a selection of newspapers in the library. Books are available either to read in the library, or you can bring them to your ward.
  • We have a pool table available in both our hospitals. If you are receiving care in SPUH, you can book into our pool room through our healthcare assistants and enjoy a game of pool. No booking is needed for the pool table in our Lucan hospital.

  Spending time in nature can help your mental health recovery. You can visit our therapeutic garden during your stay; it is in the main garden of SPUH, with transport from our Lucan hospital available. There is a variety of shrubs, vegetables and flower beds in the garden. A weekly gardening group is held on Friday mornings here with a horticulturalist. A leaflet detailing gardening opening times and the rules for using the garden is available in the Information Centre. Other gardening groups take place during the week, depending on the weather, with details of these shared in the daily activity sheets.

  Exercise can be very beneficial to your physical health and mental health recovery. We offer a gym in SPUH which is open to you. Its opening times are available on all wards, from the gym, or in the Information Centre. To access the gym, you will need a green slip completed by either your consultant or registrar. A member of gym staff has to be present when you are using the gym and you will need to be shown around the equipment before you use it.

  We also have a mini-golf course in SPUH, and a walking group leaves from the main reception every day at 3.30pm, and at other times which will be shared in the daily activity sheet. Walks last around 45 minutes. You will need a green slip from a member of nursing staff to join the walk. If you are receiving care in Lucan and wish to use the gym or mini-golf course or to take part in the walking group, please talk to staff to make arrangements for this.

• Amenities and services

  Beauty and hairdressing services

  Beauty and hairdressing services are available, with a beauty therapist and hairdresser visiting each week. Details of the services they offer are displayed on notice boards on the wards or in the Information Centre. You can book beauty or hairdressing appointments through reception; these are paid services.

  Laundry

  We do not provide an internal laundry service, but we do have an agreement with an external laundry provider; if, during your stay, you wish to use this service, you can let the staff on your ward know.

  Healthcare services

  A GP Primary Care Service is available by appointment, with morning and afternoon clinics running from Monday to Friday. Two practice nurses are also available from 8am to 4pm each Monday to Friday. Referrals can be made through your MDT.

  We can provide access to a physiotherapist, dietician, speech and language therapist, and chiropodist if needed. Nursing staff can advise you of these services.

  Shops and restaurants

  Our restaurant, Ridgeways, is open in SPUH throughout the day, offering breakfast, lunch and evening meals, as well as refreshments and snacks. In SPUH, there is also a small shop where you can buy magazines, newspapers, barista coffee, cold drinks, snacks, toiletries, stamps and other small essentials.

  Throughout both hospitals, there are a number of vending machines where you can get drinks and snacks.

  We do not have ATM machines onsite, but you can get cashback from the till at the shop in SPUH.

  Religious services and pastoral care

  There is a non-denominational oratory in both hospitals. A Roman Catholic Chaplain attends on Sundays for mass. A daily mass is livestreamed online at 4pm. We can arrange an online appointment with the chaplain if you would like.

  A Church of Ireland Chaplain is also available on request.

  If you wish to have visit from any other religious representative, a member of staff will arrange this for you.