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.