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.