HSE ‘misappropriating’ mental health funds
The Irish Mental Health Coalition (IMHC) yesterday called on both the Government and the HSE to urgently address significant delays in the implementation of a national plan to improve the country’s mental health services first announced two years ago.
It comes after the IMHC claimed that the HSE had spent just €23 million of €50m allocated specifically for the expansion of mental health services since 2006.
HSE assistant director of mental health services, Seamus McNulty, explained yesterday that the remainder of the budget was “time delayed to address core deficits in existing mental health services”.
The IMHC also expressed concern that no mention of a further €25m in funding promised under the programme had been contained in the recent budget.
“It illustrates the wider issue of the lack of predictability, transparency and accountability in how mental services are planned and funded more generally,” said IMHC chairman John Saunders.
The group, which is a collection of various organisations involved in the provision of services to people with mental health problems including Schizophrenia Ireland and Bodywhys, claimed the health authorities had effectively sat on their hands for the past two years with regard to improving mental health services.
The IMHC expressed regret at the slow pace by the HSE in implementing the Government’s mental health policy framework, A Vision for Change.
The document was published in January 2006 by Health Minister Mary Harney with promises that it would make significant changes and improvements to the delivery of mental health services in Ireland by 2012.
However, Mr Saunders said the policy plan had not marked the expected turning point in the Government’s attention to mental health care. Speaking at a press conference in Dublin to mark the second anniversary of the publication, Mr Saunders voiced the coalition’s anger that so little action had been taken on its implementation.
“Two years later, mental health service users and providers are still struggling with an outdated, fragmented and severely under-resourced system,” he said.
The IMHC claimed Ireland still had one of the highest rates of hospitalisation for people with mental health problems due to the lack of community-based services which had suffered as a result of the recent HSE embargo on jobs.
It also expressed concern at the Government’s decision to move the Central Mental Hospital from Dundrum to a site adjacent to the proposed prison at Thornton Hall in north Dublin.
“To locate a therapeutic facility for people with mental illness — many of whom have not committed a crime — is stigmatising and discriminatory,” said Mr Saunders.
Specialist services for people with eating orders and brain injuries also remain generally unavailable outside Dublin.
The chief executive of Bodywhys said there were still just three beds available in the entire country for the treatment of people with eating disorders as in 2005, despite promises of increased bed capacity.
Recommendation: Involvement of patients and their carers in every aspect of service development and delivery.
Status: Limited progress.
Recommendation: Fully staffed, community-based, multidisciplinary teams in place for mental health services.
Status: Not achieved.
Recommendation: Care plans should reflect the user’s particular needs.
Status: Not achieved.
Recommendation: Links between specialist mental health services and voluntary groups should be enhanced and formalised.
Status: Not achieved.
Recommendation: Mental health services should be organised nationally in catchment areas for populations of 250,000-400,000.
Status: Not achieved.
Recommendation: Service provision should be prioritised and developed where need is greatest.
Status: Not achieved.
Recommendation: Plan to bring about the closure of all mental hospitals should be drawn up and implemented with proceeds reinvested in mental health services.
Status: Just one closure with no reinvestment.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
