‘New mental health blueprint needed’ says leader in mental health services

One of the big challenges facing the next mental health minister will be to select a team to devise a new blueprint for mental health services and to ensure community services are resourced, said a leading clinical director in mental health services.

His comments came in the week that acting Health Minister Leo Varakar confirmed that €35m earmarked for the sector will be diverted elsewhere. The last grand plan for mental health was Vision for Change, which, while roundly praised when published in 2006 was not entirely implemented due to budgetary challenges.

Speaking at a UCC Mad Activism in Academia seminar, consultant psychiatrist and clinical director of the Centre for Mental Health Care and Recovery in Bantry, Pat Bracken, said: “We are at an interesting moment as the period of Vision for Change is coming to an end.”