Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 20 November 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Workforce Planning in the Mental Healthcare Sector: Discussion

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Jigsaw published some startling facts yesterday. That organisation does fantastic work and needs additional funding to expand because it is meeting a need that is not otherwise being met. It allows self-referrals, which is important. It stated that the number of children being prescribed psychiatric medication has increased by nearly 500% over the past decade and Professor Brendan Kelly said that the recruitment crisis in the HSE is a factor in that. We learned from the Joint Committee on Future of Mental Health Care last year that the HSE spends approximately €400 million a year on psychotropic drugs but only €10 million on talk therapies. The work of the witnesses highlights the lack of rehabilitation units, and I know from talking to families that one of their biggest issues is with children and adults being shown the door once they are patched up in a psychiatric unit. There are no supports in place for family members on how to deal with a situation, or supports for the patients in terms of aftercare plans and rehabilitation. Ultimately, they often end up spiralling downwards. Between 65% and 75% of all admissions to inpatient mental health units are readmissions, which is anecdotally due to people not getting the right supports. There is a debate about whether we rely too much on the biomedical model versus a biopsychosocial model. What are the thoughts of the witnesses on that? Medication has an important role and doctors only prescribe it when needed but it is often needed because doctors have few alternatives to offer people in a very desperate situation.

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