MAJOR CHANGES are needed if targets under the Government's A Vision for Changeplan are to be reached by 2016, the Irish Mental Health Coalition has said.
In advance of a seminar today to mark five years of the plan, coalition director Orla Barry said accountability and investment was needed to reform mental health services.
The 10-year A Vision for Changeplan was introduced in 2006. It was widely welcomed and seen as a new dawn for mental health services in Ireland. It promised increased investment, the closure of mental hospitals and the provision of accessible, community-based, specialist services for people with mental illness.
A national directorate of mental health services with responsibility for the plan’s implementation was to have been set up, but this has yet to materialise.
The directorate was one of the most urgent recommendations in the plan, according to Ms Barry.
“The fact that senior executive accountability was never established has been hugely detrimental to implementing the executive policy,” she said. “The contrast with the progress of the National Cancer Strategy is stark.”
She acknowledged that there had been some positive developments and said the commitment of mental health services management and professional groups to improve services was evident, but progress had been slow and piecemeal.
The failure to establish a directorate with the powers and budget to effect change and implement national plans, meant that the best efforts of dedicated managers and professionals were compromised.
“There remain significant differences in the quality of services across the country and the resources available to move to a modern community model.”
The situation was worsened by the staff moratorium which resulted in a “disproportionate loss of mental health posts” and a critical reliance on staffing inpatient facilities at the expense of community services, Ms Barry said.
The HSE is to host today’s seminar on the plan in Dublin Castle.
Minister of State for Mental Health John Moloney has said he will provide €3 million this year for “innovative projects” in mental health. Some €2 million will be provided to the Genio Trust, which works to improve the lives of people with disabilities and mental health difficulties, and €1 million will be provided to fund the expansion of Jigsaw, a community based mental health support service for young people.
