Mental health patients ‘failed’ by government policy

THE crisis in the mental health services is likely to become worse unless significant action is taken at government level, the College of Psychiatry of Ireland (CPI) has warned.

Commenting on a damning report published last week by Psychiatric Nurses Association, which said the services were in “freefall”, a CPI spokesperson said government policy was failing mental health patients.

“The required standards and necessary best practice for modern mental health care will be put in jeopardy or possibly irreparably damaged if the decline in investment and support for mental health services continues along the dismal trends which are well described in ‘A Mental Health Service in Crisis’ and other recent reports” a spokesperson for the college said.

“The reform programme ‘A Vision for Change’ in which so many hopes are invested risks being discredited and stagnating for a generation to the potential shame of the Government’s Department of Health which must be its champion.

“We cannot afford to regress to a Victorian model of care when so much effort and progress has been made over the last couple of decades to move away from it.”

The College called on all users of the mental health services, their families and carers and other stakeholders to immediately seek from the Government commitments which would end the recruitment embargo of mental health professionals and provide appropriate and safe treatment and care for the most ill persons as set out in ‘A Vision for Change’.

Meanwhile, John McCarthy, campaigner and founder of Mad Pride Ireland said comments made by the Psychiatric Nurses Union in relation to violence in mental health units were only serving to increase stigma in the area of mental health.

“The union’s claim of violence toward staff makes no reference to the forced medication of patients, under the law, which sees people legally forced to take medications they do not want by nursing staff, we need to look at the whole picture here and ask who is initiating the violence? The staff. Who writes the reports? The staff. Are patients just reacting to that legal assault by the staff? Do we who proudly live with the normality of madness not have a right as equal members of society to have this debate, and get honest answers?”