Psychiatric services under-funded, minister says

THE Government has admitted psychiatric services for people with intellectual disabilities are under-resourced and underdeveloped.

Launching a policy document yesterday on behalf of the Irish College of Psychiatrists, Health Minister of State Tim O’Malley said there had been no return on investment in the services.

“People want proper services and as far as I’m concerned, as minister with responsibility both for disabilities and mental health, the money has been put in, but we haven’t got the services.”

He said while there had been great improvements in the quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric services had not kept pace.

Some parts of the country were bereft of services, he said. “These services are greatly under-resourced and grossly undeveloped - and in some counties we have no psychiatric services for people with intellectual disabilities.”

Mr O’Malley said further work was urgently required.

The document, A Proposal Model for the Delivery of a Mental Health Service for People with Intellectual Disability, was prepared by the Faculty of Learning Disability Psychiatry of the Irish College of Psychiatrists and details 20 recommendations.

These include a significant reform of the mental health services for people with intellectual disability and reinforced funding for mental health services nationwide. It identifies the need to develop a specialist mental health service for several reasons, including the importance of accurate diagnosis and complicated drug therapies.