Report given guarded welcome

Doctors and organisations in the mental health area yesterday generally welcomed the report of the expert group.

However, they warned that the Government would have to invest in the proposed new community facilities in tandem with the closure of existing psychiatric hospitals.

Chairwoman of the Irish College of Psychiatry Dr Kate Ganter described the report as "excellent" but said she had concerns about the level of funding.

She said the €25 million earmarked by the Government for the development of mental health services this year included capital expenditure, whereas the report said there should be more than €21 million in current funding allocated each year for seven years.

The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association gave the report a "guarded welcome". It said it was vital that community facilities such as day hospitals, full sector teams and crisis houses were developed at the same time as the move from psychiatric hospitals.

It particularly welcomed the proposals for the development of forensic, learning disability and child psychiatry.

Fine Gael deputy spokesman on health Dan Neville welcomed the proposals but said many of them had been put forward in the past. He said he had little confidence in the Government implementing the measures.

He maintained that the proposal for mental health to be allocated 8.24 per cent of total health spending was "modest" in international terms.

The voluntary organisation Mental Health Ireland said the report gave a second and possibly final chance to develop a balanced and integrated modern mental health service.

Chief executive Brian Howard said that, while the report would be welcomed by everyone involved in the mental health community, "it will also be regarded with an understandable degree of scepticism, in view of past failures".

He said the Government's previous policy, published in 1984, contained many recommendations which would have transformed outdated approaches and services.

"Instead, the share of the health budget for mental health services declined year on year to about half, in proportionate terms, the level it was in the early 1980s," he said.

The organisation Grow welcomed the report but warned that it was now the responsibility of Government to display its commitment to reform and ensure the recommendations were implemented.

The Mental Health Commission, the statutory body charged with promoting good practice in the mental health sector, said it particularly welcomed the emphasis on user and carer involvement, the development of the recovery model in Irish mental health services and the delivery of services by multidisciplinary teams.