Mr. John Farrelly:

The Mental Health Commission is the statutory body required to oversee mental health services on behalf of the Sate while Mental Health Reform is an advocacy group. We come from different positions. My position would be that we should not establish something that accidentally makes one group look unique and in need of extra in comparison with everyone else.

The bottom line is that there are independent complaints processes. If you go into a general hospital and something happens, you complain. The core issue is that people are worried. They obviously do not seem to have confidence in the HSE complaints process. As we set out in our approach, there are lots of mechanisms to complain about people as a profession if you are not happy with how they do it, or there is the complaints process in the HSE, and then on top of that, the regulator. Something that the committee could do is strengthen the regulations so that we scrutinise how the complaints happen. That would mean that in a number of years time we would have data to inform another decision.

The third point relates to the Ombudsman. If people make complaints in a certain area and they are not happy with how something is done, that could go to the Ombudsman, who could examine it. To be honest, I do not really understand why an independent complaints process is needed. If that is the case, we would bring it in for all health services across the board and not just mental health. They are the main reasons. I understand that when someone is in an institution, he or she is on his or her own and unwell, and he or she can be vulnerable. There is a large amount of power and authority on behalf of the people who are keeping them there. I absolutely understand that and I agree that we must invest more in advocacy services to support people and address the core issues. However, I do not think enshrining in law a process that would not apply to the rest of the health service and would be just for mental health would stand up to scrutiny. It sounds as though we are disagreeing - we are - but I understand that underneath the idea that people feel they want to be heard more. They are potentially more vulnerable than in a general hospital, but for the reasons set out, I am not sure that we would agree that it is needed.