Mental health services - A vision for unhealthy obfuscation

The Irish Psychiatric Association (IPA) and the Irish Mental Health Coalition (IMHC) issued what amounted to damning progress reports yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the publication of A Vision for Change, the Government’s framework document for mental health.

Both associations have essentially accused the Health Service Executive (HSE) of “misappropriating” funds earmarked for mental health services. In its report, Lie of the Land, a title that was obviously intended as a pun, the IPA accuses the Government and the HSE of systematically allowing large amounts of property that were attached to mental hospitals to be frittered away.

The money realised from the sale of those assets was supposed to be reinvested in psychiatric services, in accordance with A Vision for Change, launched with such great fanfare in 2006. The document set out in unambiguous terms that the lands associated with the large and sprawling mental institutions were remnants of the past.