Among the new services to be introduced at the psychiatric hospital will be a child and adolescent service, a cocaine addiction programme, and the establishment of community based mental health services.
The hospital is also looking at the use of web-based support services for registered users, ranging from mood monitoring using SMS messaging, to online counselling services.
The web-based services would be operated by trained professionals and will be provided to people using inpatient services and those returning to the community.
As part of its plan, the hospital will open a mental illness recovery centre, which will include a multicultural treatment programme to meet the needs of ethnic communities.
St Patrick's Hospital is an independent, not-for-profit hospital and is the largest acute psychiatric hospital treating public and private patients.
