Mental health recovery services have barely improved in the last 10 years.
The Mental Health Commission has offered a damning indictment of mental healthcare services in Ireland in a report published on Thursday morning.
The report, titled Rehabilitation And Recovery Mental Health Services In Ireland, notes that provision of mental healthcare for those in recovery falls well short of the recommendations laid out in the Vision For Change strategy document published by the HSE in 2006.
Roughly one in seven people who have mental health problems will require recovery and rehabilitation services.
The services are essential for those who have suffered to fulfil their potential, such as “attaining employment or education, a satisfying social and community life, or living in suitable housing with appropriate levels of support.”
According to the data gathered: “There has been minimum improvement in the number of rehabilitation teams between 2008 and 2018/19. Bearing in mind the population increase since 2006, when A Vision for Change made its recommendation for rehabilitation and recovery mental health services, we now require 47 rehabilitation teams across Ireland, with a minimum staffing of 21 WTEs per team.”
“There are 23 rehabilitation teams nationally; 48% of what is required under current mental health policy. Within CHOs (Community Health Organisations), there are areas, and therefore service users, with no access to rehabilitation services. For example, there is no rehabilitation team in Donegal.”
CHO 4, which covers Cork and Kerry, has just 29% of the recommended rehabilitation teams.
The report further notes that none of those teams are staffed to the required levels.
You can read the report in full here.
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