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MENTAL HEALTH services are in “free fall” at a time when the demand for services was never greater, according to the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA).

In a report prepared for the HSE and the Minister for Health, the union says this is because of the huge numbers of psychiatric nurses retiring who are not being replaced due to the moratorium on recruitment and due to the small proportion of the health budget being spent on mental health in Ireland, where at 5.3 per cent of the overall health budget it is less than half the 12 per cent spent in the UK.