Sir, – As service users of the mental health services we look to the local team to provide for our needs and help us maintain an independent life. We do not need an institution to contain us. At most we may need to spend a small amount of time as inpatients. Our care is managed by ourselves with help and support from the community mental health team. The service is not perfect, but in our experience this is not down to the staff but to a failure to properly invest in the services over the years.
It is shameful that having gone through a period of prosperity we still did not have a functioning mental health service. Now, with further budget cuts looming we ask how the mental health services can be asked to cut more? The ban on staff recruitment makes it more and more difficult to keep the system functioning. If the community services are reduced this puts greater pressure on inpatient services. People who do not need to be in hospital may be hospitalised nonetheless if support services are reduced. People who need hospital may have to wait for beds. Already in Athlone a community nurse has been lost and has not been replaced. This reduces the amount of support available for people. The staff does an excellent job but they can only do so much.
As people set out to protect their own area of interest, spare a thought for those who are often invisible. These are the silent ones. They do not fight or march or make demands. Many find it hard enough just to get through the day. Remember you could be one of them. They are ordinary people who work, raise families, pay bills. Fear of stigma keeps them quiet. Those who can will access private care. Many of us cannot afford it. Our families are often kept at arms-length as we battle to prove that we fit in, are “normal”.
All we ask is a functioning mental health service. If there is sufficient staff then we will have this. We do not ask for luxurious surroundings or state of the art equipment. For us, the most important element is the people. We ask for someone to be available to listen and to advise, to provide support. In Athlone a new primary care centre is being built. They want the mental health services to move into it. Yet there is a lot less space than is currently available. It is further from the town centre so making access difficult. Is this progress?
Improve what is already there and provide more staff – this would be progress. We welcome the relocation of the current day centre to improved accommodations. However, will it be able to maintain its service as staff levels become tighter? A newly refurbished admissions unit at St Loman’s Hospital, Mullingar is much appreciated. But what use is it if other services are not maintained? What use is it if the staff are under pressure and the unit becomes a holding place? – Yours, etc,