Reader's Blog: The good, the bad, and the unknown of health service

I was most heartened to read in the article ‘Minister wants dedicated mental health phoneline by end of year’ (Irish Examiner, April 27) that €55m has been allocated for mental health initiatives and also, the minster hopes to be in a position before the year end, to establish the new phone number that would act as the access point to mental health services.

But then I turned to page 2 and the headline ‘Mental Health failings ‘are abuse’,’ and read that staffing levels are nearly 50% below what was recommended in some regions plus unbelievably, the HSE is unable to give a breakdown on what was spent on each aspect of mental health?