Vision for Change: A mental health policy document launched five months ago is still without a national management team while voluntary groups struggle to attract volunteers to oversee its implementation, according to Mental Health Ireland.
Speaking in advance of the voluntary organisation's annual conference this weekend, chief executive Brian Howard said the Vision for Change policy represented a unique opportunity to overhaul the sector but needed to be speedily and comprehensively implemented in line with the targets set.
To date, no national team of managers and representatives had been put in place and no implementation committee had contacted Mental Health Ireland, said Mr Howard. He contended that if significant progress was not achieved within the first year, the essential recommendations proposed may only be part-implemented similar to a 1984 policy.
Central to the new mental health policy is the proposal to close 15 mental hospitals and cater for people in their own homes or in houses in the community, giving them practical and psychological support to re-build their lives. It is expected to transform how people with mental health problems are treated and will be effected on an incremental basis over the next decade.
"Primary care has been identified as having a very important role in this new policy, yet the primary care strategies introduced some years ago haven't been implemented which is a major worry," said Mr Howard.
"Secondly, structures need to be put in place, but no national management team has been established yet. I realise that only five months have passed, but I would like to see the structures put in place."
Volunteerism has been central to the proposals to close institutions and provide local community-based supports, including advocacy, social outlets, day-care facilities, entertainment and housing. However, local mental health associations now find themselves in competition for the limited time which people have available for voluntary activities, according to Mr Howard.
A pledge by Tim O'Malley, the Minister of State for Health and Children, that an implementation committee would be appointed within weeks of the report's launch has yet to be observed on the ground.
"I realise that a lot of what they are doing is unseen work, that there are probably layers of reviews and evaluation to be undertaken but it would be helpful if organisations were kept more informed," said Mr Howard.
Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Tony Humphries, who will also address this weekend's conference, is critical of the policy for what he sees as its failure to understand that mental illnesses occur in response to incidents and circumstances in life.
He believes the traditional perception of people as being mad, insane or disordered survives through this new policy. "The policy has attempted to involve all the professions but it is still the medics in charge, it is still a medical model. What we need to be understanding is the physical, emotional, sexual, intellectual, behaviour and spiritual side, not just the physical aspect." he said.
Mental Health Ireland Expanding the Vision: From Policy to Practice Through Voluntary Action is being held in the Talbot Hotel, Wexford, May 19th-21st.