Gambling disorder treatment referrals within the Irish mental health service: a national survey using freedom of information requests

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Columb, D, Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524 and O’Gara, C, 2021. Gambling disorder treatment referrals within the Irish mental health service: a national survey using freedom of information requests. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 19, pp. 598-605. ISSN 1557-1874

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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-9982-9

Abstract

Gambling disorder is an increasingly recognised problem amongst healthcare professionals and the general public but there is little information on what services are provided within the Irish healthcare system for the disorder. The aim of the present study (adapted from a study in the UK by Rigbye and Griffiths [International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 9, 276–281, 2011] was to ascertain how referrals for gambling disorder are processed and what services are available for gambling disorder within the Irish healthcare system. Email requests for information on gambling disorder referrals were sent to the main super-catchment areas in Ireland known as Community Healthcare Organisations (CHOs) and part of the national Health Executive Service (HSE). Email requests were also sent to Primary Care services and Regional and Local Drug Task forces in Ireland. Each request asked a number of questions related to gambling disorder referrals (adapted from the study by Rigbye and Griffiths). Responses were received from seven of the nine CHOs (77.8%) and eight of the 24 Drug Task Forces (33.3%), as well as from Primary Care services. Four of the CHOs surveyed (50%) offered some form of service for gambling disorder as a part of their Community Mental Health Team (CMHT), most commonly through a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) in Addictions. Referrals varied between 10 and 39 referrals in a 12-month period per CHO. Half of the Drug Task Forces surveyed offered a service for gambling disorder as part of their overall service and the majority offered onward referral to either a residential programme or a self-help organisation. Primary care services did not provide any specific services for gambling disorder. There is an evident need for a consistent and dedicated pathway for the referral and management of gambling disorder within the HSE.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
Creators:	Columb, D., Griffiths, M.D. and O’Gara, C.
Publisher:	Springer US
Date:	June 2021
Volume:	19
ISSN:	1557-1874
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s11469-018-9982-9 DOI 9982 Publisher Item Identifier
Rights:	Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jill Tomkinson
Date Added:	03 Sep 2018 15:36
Last Modified:	06 Jul 2021 08:25
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/34404