Dr. Shari McDaid:

I do not have the information on the dementia service. More widely, there is a need to ensure adequate mental health services are integrated in the implementation of Sláintecare. Sláintecare is relatively light on mental health. There was a rationale for that insofar as there was an anticipated review of A Vision for Change. Such a revised framework needs to be fully part of the Sláintecare implementation. It needs to be perceived as part of Sláintecare implementation. The Sláintecare reforms will not work if mental health is not integrated into them.

I give the example of the new GP contract.

The new GP contract, about which I have only read in news reports, refers a lot to support for chronic diseases. We know, for instance, in the case of diabetes care, that it costs 50% to 75% more to care for someone with diabetes when the mental health aspects of the disease are not being addressed. I encourage the health community to look out for mental health as an issue in the implementation of all the health service reforms. Unless mental health is integrated in all of those locations, the system will be far more expensive than it needs to be.