MAJOR GAPS in the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) financial accounting system mean the organisation cannot explain how its mental health budget is being spent, Amnesty International has claimed.
A report commissioned by Amnesty’s Irish section found gaps in the availability of detailed information on mental health expenditure. Where money was accounted for, there were no mechanisms in place to measure how effectively it was being spent.
“We simply do not know enough about where our money is going or what it is being used for,” Fiona Crowley, research and legal manager of Amnesty’s Irish section, said. “This would be a serious concern at any time, but in light of the current economic situation, it is astounding.”
The report, produced by Indecon Consultants, reviewed expenditure on mental health services since the publication of the Government’s strategy A Vision for Change in 2006 and assessed progress towards its implementation.
Ms Crowley warned that without proper, detailed figures about spending on different types of services and different regions, it was impossible to hold the HSE to account on mental health.
The report also found that the HSE continues to invest heavily in inpatient treatment, with less than 20 per cent of all staff in the mental health services in place in community mental health teams at the end of 2008.
This was despite community care having been Government policy since 1984 and being preferred by most service users and their families, Amnesty said.
“Despite the promise of a shift in culture, the HSE continues to heavily invest in institutional care over properly-organised community care,” Ms Crowley added.
“This does not respect people’s human right to the least restrictive or intrusive treatment and environment. Even the community teams that have been established fall far short of their recommended staffing levels, which means people are still not getting a proper choice in treatment.”
Evaluating progress towards implementing A Vision for Change, the report concluded that at the current rate, it could take up to 10 years to achieve the staffing targets recommended in the strategy.
