'Big concern' over funding for mental health patient services

The national clinical lead for the HSE child and youth mental health, said ringfenced funding has supported these services up to now.

Mental health patients could lose out in the move to new HSE regions unless these services and its funding are protected, consultants have said.

There are “significant concerns” for these services as the move towards regional care continues, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (ICHA) conference heard in Kilkenny.

Dr Amanda Burke, national clinical lead for the HSE child and youth mental health, said ringfenced funding has supported these services up to now.

However, she said there is “a really big concern” that this could be lost.

She highlighted worries already raised within the sector about potential “loss of continuity of care” and a reduction in service quality, as well as “delays in responding to risks”.

The plans could lead to a more fragmented service, she indicated.

She pointed out that this goes against recommendations in the Maskey Report. 

That report looked at children’s mental health services in the South Kerry region, finding harm caused to a number of children.

Answering questions from panel moderator Bryan Dobson, she said it is important that consultants in any service “can influence budgetary decisions and that these are being made in a consistent way across the country.” 

This is a potential downside of moving to a regional structure, she added.

“How do you ensure consistent application of national policy across the country, so no matter where you live in the country, you get the same service?” she said.

However, Dr Burke acknowledged that there are also criticisms of how existing services run. 

This includes people worried about how separate mental health and disability services are.

This can mean, she said, that “neurodiverse children being bounced from one service to another and nobody taking responsibility for integrated care".

She indicated the regional model could improve this situation by having local services work more closely together.

Digital healthcare

The conference also heard a separate panel discuss digital healthcare in Ireland.

Robert Watt, Department of Health secretary general, said plans for electronic health records are moving ahead.

These digital records will eventually see an end to cumbersome paper records used in hospitals and community care. 

However, the HSE has estimated this could take seven or more years.

He said: “The health minister is hoping to bring it to Government in the next few weeks, to push ahead with the procurement plans.” 

He added: “(Jennifer Carroll MacNeill) will be going to Government to say the business case has been developed and there is assurance about that.” 

The next stage will be tendering to the market. The procurement process is set to start before the end of this year, he later told reporters at the conference.

The cost is not yet known. 

This summer, it was reportedthat  the cost in Northern Ireland for a digital records system is now expected to reach £360m (€414.7m).