Mental health - Troubled minds need HSE action

The Wexford 24/7 Suicide Action group has condemned the minister, the Health Service Executive and its leadership as “a disgrace” because “absolutely nothing” has been done in the past year to improve facilities for those troubled people who contemplate suicide and the destruction of their loved ones.

The approach to mental health service has undergone a revolution since the 1984 publication of the policy document, Planning for the Future. It emphasised the need to set up multiprofessional teams to provide proper psychiatric services by integrating a comprehensive mental health system within the community, rather than in a residential institutions.

Many residential institutions have been shut down and sold off, but the necessary replacement facilities are not being provided within the community to ensure that the necessary help is available to those in need.

By now nobody should be surprised that the health services have got things backwards again. The first step should have been to ensure that replacement services were in place and functioning, but almost a quarter of a century later those promised services are still not operating properly.

The health boards have given way to the HSE, but many of the same people are still involved.

How long do they need to provide a proper service? The most important aspect of the changed approach to mental help is being ignored. New methods may be more effective, but only if they are implemented properly. It is not enough to close down the old institutions and replace them with empty promises.

Last year €25 million earmarked for mental health services was diverted elsewhere by the Government. This is intolerable. “No one seems to know where it went or what happened to it,” Bridget O’Keeffe, spokeswomen for the Wexford 24/7 action group, complained yesterday.

Just three days after the first anniversary of the Monageer tragedy in which the parents and two children lost their lives in a suicide-murder combination, we have another similar tragedy nearby. Those tragedies demonstrate an obvious need for help and support in the area.

Suicide has become a widespread problem, leading to even more deaths than from road accidents. The majority of suicides are young men. The kind of stress that leads to suicide is a mental health problem that must be faced. Such concerns cannot be treated as a mere administrative matter by the HSE. It is not something that can be dealt with on a nine-to-five basis, five days a week. People under pressure need to know where they can turn for help at any time. A helpline should be available round the clock throughout the year.