THE SLOW progress being made in reforming mental health services four years after a blueprint for change was published has been criticised by Amnesty International Ireland.
Colm O’Gorman, executive director of the organisation, said yesterday the hope generated by the publication of A Vision for Change in January 2006 had now turned to disillusionment.
“By its own admission, the Government has not brought about the changes necessary to deliver a modern mental health service. This has happened in part because mental health is not given the priority it deserves. We urgently need a renewed political commitment to mental health from all parties.”
A Vision for Change laid out a road map to modernise Ireland’s mental health service, shifting from one focused on hospital care to a comprehensive community-based approach.
“Despite this promise of a change in culture, the HSE continues to heavily invest in institutional care over properly organised community care,” Mr O’Gorman said.
He has written to all Oireachtas members urging them to make mental health a political priority in 2010.
He said the failure to implement A Vision for Change was not just a problem for the Department of Health. “There has been little or no response from other Government departments even though A Vision for Change makes numerous recommendations for other departments, for example in housing, education and employment . . . yet Ministers with relevant portfolios have thus far shirked their responsibilities in responding to mental health.”
Yet progress was needed now more than ever given that the link between economic difficulties and increased mental health problems was well proven. “According to the Samaritans, debt and money have become the biggest cause of distress for people in the past year.”
He said the formation recently of a cross-party interest group on mental health by Fine Gael senator Frances Fitzgerald and Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews gave some cause for optimism.
Mental health service users will meet with the cross-party group on Wednesday to present their views.
Mr Andrews said yesterday that while delivering on the blueprint for change may be more difficult in the current economic climate, services were needed more than ever.
“Unemployment and financial stress can be precursors to mental health difficulties,” he said.