Mr. James Kelly:

To add to that, a vision for change was very focused on the development of service user engagement. The Department, through progressive investment, supported the HSE in developing a national lead in mental health engagement. Mr. Michael Ryan is the current national lead in the HSE and there are nine leads at CHO level who sit on CHO senior management teams for mental health services. Compared to many of the other care groups, the HSE, through the policy as provided for in A Vision for Change, very much enhances the voice of the service user in the management and operation mental health services.

In Sharing the Vision that voice has been emphasised. As alluded to, Mr. Michael Ryan sits on the national implementation monitoring steering committee. The current work of the committee is very focused on developing a reference group of service users and family members. That is currently in development and it is envisaged that it will be in existence in the early part of 2022. That will very much be a partner committee supporting the steering committee in the successful implementation of the policy.