One in four Irish people will experience some form of mental illness during their lifetimes. But the Government and health authorities continue to behave in a callous and parsimonious fashion towards the provision of necessary health services and the upgrading of facilities.
The latest criticism of this unacceptable state of affairs comes from the acting Inspector of Mental Services Susan Finnerty who reports that only one in 16 catchment areas are able to offer a wide range of multi-disciplinary services to people in the community with mental health problems.
The situation is bad for children, because only basic staffing is available. But it is intolerable for those with intellectual disabilities because no multi-disciplinary services at all are provided. In addition, Dr Finnerty comments on a lack of coherent planning to upgrade mental health services over the next five years. And she worries that an ad hoc response to urgent problems will continue to dominate official thinking.
Nearly a quarter of a century ago, a blueprint for the development of mental health services, entitled Planning for the Future, was adopted by government. That plan envisaged closing old-style psychiatric institutions and replacing them with community-based care. In spite of that, hundreds of unfortunate people continue to languish in old psychiatric hospitals under unacceptable conditions, without access to recreational or therapeutic activities.
What is equally worrying is that new community-based services are not faring much better. They were supposed to offer a break with the past by providing a range of multi-disciplinary services, alternatives to medication and opportunities for patients to participate in their own care and treatment. It's clear from the Finnerty report that this is not happening. Most community services are hampered by a lack of staff, poor management and shortage of resources. Instead of a new era of care in the community, we are creating a new generation of community-based mini-institutions.
These are our most vulnerable and dependent citizens. And they deserve much more. It is not sufficient for politicians to decry the use of lock-up hospitals and old mental health practices when they fail to fund services that would provide patients with alternatives to medication and in-patient care. And the Minister for Health, the Government and health authorities are well aware of the situation. Previous generations of mentally ill patients were failed due to official neglect of the mental health service. To do so again, at a time of unprecedented wealth, would be unconscionable.