HSE mental health delay ‘like waiting for Godot’

THE head of the Mental Health Commission has described waiting for action by the Health Service Executive as like “waiting for Godot”.

Commission chairman Dr John Owens accused the HSE of “paralysis” when it came to mental health issues after a year of inaction on a Government policy report which called for radical improvements in services and supports for psychiatric patients.

“Many of us are disappointed that the policy document, a year afterwards, is still not substantially moved on,” he said. One of the problems he highlighted was the lack of a management structure within the HSE to manage the changes the report recommended.