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Irish Mental Health Coalition Want Questions Answered On Mental Health Service reform

22nd January 2009

See full report (Word Document: 384 kb)

The Irish Mental Health Coalition (IMHC) has today published a new report highlighting the stagnant implementation of mental health service reform and the need for action in times of increasing cutbacks. The report, “Late for a Very Important Date”, marks the third anniversary of the publication of A Vision for Change, and calls on Government to answer key questions relating to slow progress in the development of services. 
 
Commenting on the report, Chair of the IMHC, John Saunders, said "This report shows that mental health services are experiencing a painfully slow reform process.  When a Vision for Change was published in January 2006, it was to be the blueprint for a radical new approach to a newly prioritised mental health system. However, there has been a lack of Government action to match rhetoric. Progress in implementing policy outlined in A Vision for Change has been slow and lacking in transparency.
 
“It is clear that basic accountability is absent. Systems to promote reform have not been put in place, targets for service delivery have not been met and development funding has all but ceased.  The result is that people using services, their families and carers are stuggling to access services which meet the most basic standards laid down for mental health services”
 
The IMHC report is calling on the Government to answer the following questions:   

• Why has no Director of Mental Health been appointed despite the recommendations of the Minister and the Independent Monitoring Group?
• When will the practice of admitting children to adult wards end?
• When will the HSE publish an implementation plan for A Vision for Change that has been approved by the Minister with detailed year on year targets, timeframes and human and financial resource commitments?
• How many fully staffed Community Mental Health Teams, are presently in place around the country?
• Will the Government commit to revising and ring-fencing mental health funding in light of increasing demands on the services?

Expressing the urgent need for reform and investment, John Saunders emphasised the current pressures on services through an increase in demand. “The urgency of reform is considerably heightened given the recent demands on services. We have seen the first year on year increase in admissions to inpatients units and hospitals since 1986, with 2007 seeing 20,769 admissions compared to 20, 388 in 2006. Similarly, Samaritans and Aware have both recorded increases in calls to their helpline services in the latter part of 2008.  If you consider the established link between economic recession, financial pressures and mental health needs, this demand for services will inevitably continue to rise.
 
“In these times of social change and economic difficulty, there is a risk that mental health services will fall victim to cutbacks. Indeed, the diversion of development funding, allocated for mental health services in 2006 and 2007 to meet budget deficits elsewhere, indicates the vulnerability of mental health services in good times as much as bad. 
 
“Access to mental health services should not be considered a discretionary public service but a vital and sometimes emergency public service, the absence of which leads to breaches in the most fundamental of human rights. The IMHC is urging Government to recognise the particular need for improved mental health services at this time and push forward with reform.”
 
Mr. Saunders concluded, “Unfortunately, A Vision for Change has not marked a turning point in Government’s neglect of the mental health services, which have suffered from decades of under investment.  It is not too late – now is the time for leadership, investment and reform to meet the real and urgent need for mental health reform.”