Directorate to overhaul mental health services

A DIRECTORATE of mental health services with executive and budgetary powers is to be established this year, Minister of State with responsibility for mental health Kathleen Lynch has confirmed.

The agency will assume operational control of mental health services within the Health Service Executive and report directly to the HSE’s chief executive.

Its primary role will be to oversee the Government’s plan to reposition mental health services away from antiquated institutions in favour of 99 multidisciplinary community based centres.

The absence of a body to drive change at an executive level within the HSE has been highlighted by interest groups and the independent monitoring group of the State’s Vision for Change strategy as one of the primary reasons for the slow pace of reform.

Ms Lynch told The Irish Times the directorate would have the power to control budgets and reconfigure services, powers which currently reside with regional directors in the HSE.

She said the agency’s composition and the post of director had yet to be decided.

However, she said she planned to make an announcement on the establishment of the agency by the end of October.

“We often get caught up in establishing new entities, and this isn’t always necessary to achieve change.

“However, in the case of mental health services we need to establish an agency with sufficient power, clout and budget to ensure a uniform delivery of service across the country.”

The Mental Health Reform group, a coalition of mental health interest groups which has repeatedly called for a directorate to be put in place to implement reforms, welcomed the announcement.

“The establishment of a directorate with single pointed executive authority, responsibility and accountability is a welcome step towards implementation of a Vision for Change,” said the group’s director Orla Barry.

“The directorate needs to be headed up by a director with budgetary powers reporting directly to the HSE’s chief executive.”

One of the first recommendations of the Vision for Change strategy, published in 2006, was for the establishment of a directorate within the HSE to manage the implementation of reform of mental health services.

The 2010 annual report by the strategy’s independent monitoring group, published this month, highlighted an urgent need for a full directorate of mental healthcare services.

It also said that mental health services were suffering disproportionate losses in posts when compared to other parts of the health service.

It said 1,000 registered psychiatric nurses retired during 2009 and 2010.

A further 1,100 would be eligible to retire by 2012, said the report, which recommended continuing the current derogation on the recruitment moratorium for psychiatric nurses.

The report said that the delay in the introduction of services had been contributed to by a failure since 2007 to allocate some €21 million in anticipated development revenue to implement the plan.