HSE achieves just two of 16 mental health targets

PSYCHIATRIC patients are struggling to access vital services for their recovery due to a “painfully slow” reform of the sector, with just two of the Health Service Executive’s (HSE’s) 16 targets for 2008 achieved by the start of this year.

Ahead of the third anniversary on Saturday of the HSE’s much-heralded A Vision for Change policy document for the reform of mental health services, the Irish Mental Health Coalition (IMHC) has warned that progress remains practically non-existent, with the risk of further delays.

The A Vision for Change document set out a series of measures leading to the reform of the historically underfunded mental health services, including an increase in consultant psychiatric posts, an end to children being treated in adult wards, and a focus on mental health services in the community instead of the traditional institutionalised setting.