Home > Dail Eireann debate. Mental health services: motion.

[Oireachtas] Dail Eireann debate. Mental health services: motion. (15 Nov 2011)

External website: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2...


Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan: I move:
“That Dáil Éireann: noting:
that one in four Irish persons will experience a mental health issue at some point in their lives;

that good mental health is an integral component of general health and well-being and recognising the importance for all citizens to achieve and maintain optimum mental health;

that mental health worryingly represents just 9% of the Health Service Executive, HSE, work force yet accounts for 20% of the loss of posts in 2010;

the disturbing increase in drug induced psychosis of recent years;

the significant collaborative work of the document, A Vision for Change, the commitments contained in the strategy and its placing of the service user at the centre of the mental health services;

that funding for mental health has dropped from 13% of the health budget in 1986 to just 5% in 2010, while A Vision for Change target is 8.4%;

that Community Mental Health Teams, CMHTs, are understaffed;

that adult CMHTs have 50% of the required clinical psychologists, 60% of the required social workers and 50% of the required occupational therapists;

that child and adolescent teams have 41% of the total staffing required under A Vision for Change;

that the independent monitoring group for A Vision for Change reports that it “is alarmed and concerned at the complete lack of progress in the Psychiatry of Old Age, Intellectual Disability, Liaison Psychiatry, Eating Disorder, Recovery and Rehabilitation, Co-morbid Substance Abuse and Mental Illness, Neuropsychiatry and Borderline Personality disorder [services]”;

that properly and adequately resourced community services are crucial in helping people recover from mental health issues and so prevent hospitalisation;

that there are mental health difficulties amongst individuals with drug addiction issues, known as dual diagnosis; and

that there has been a disappointing lack of progress on implementing plans in the area of mental health as set out in the Government Programme for National Recovery;

while welcoming that there have been examples of positive change in the area of intellectual disability with the recent announcements by the Government on the development of the national mental health service and the appointment of executive clinical directors with [499]responsibility for the mental health of people with intellectual disability, yielding positive outcomes in certain parts of the country, accepts that:
access to mental health services for people with intellectual disability, ID, remains extremely difficult;

the approved centre for people with ID at Stewarts Hospital has been closed, therefore there is currently no publicly funded specialist approved centre for people with ID in the country; and

this closure has resulted in a situation whereby, for a small number of people, the HSE must now, on an ad hoc basis, fund private sector agency places which are not being inspected adequately; and

calls for:
funding for mental health services proportionate to its prevalence and role in overall individual and societal well-being;

the ring-fencing of €35 million annually from within the mental health budget to develop community mental health teams and services as outlined in A Vision for Change and the programme for Government;

a commitment that the overall mental health staffing be maintained and funding for posts preserved at the level of budget 2011;

provision of adequate capital funding in 2012 to continue the closure of psychiatric hospitals and the transfer of service users to appropriate community-based programmes and accommodation;

a commitment that the overall mental health budget service staffing level be maintained and funding for posts preserved at the level of budget 2011;

a commitment to the psychological and social aspects of mental health treatment as well as the biological and medical interventions;

the deletion of paragraph (b) of section 59 of the Mental Health Act 2001;

the design of mental health facilities to be aesthetically pleasing, taking account of international best practice;

a commitment that the first clinical encounter focus on the client and that the voice of the service user be respected and at the centre of the recovery plan;

the reduction, and eventual elimination, of the use of stereotypical language in relation to mental health with a commitment to reduce and remove stigma;

a statement from the Mental Health Commission and the Health Information and Quality Authority to state immediately what portions of ID services each agency should inspect in order to remove the vacuum that remains around quality development;

the continuation of the current training in nursing with the specific skills basis for those who will work in the areas of mental health and intellectual disability;

the commitment to the International Declaration on Youth Mental Health;

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