Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue for discussion. As Deputy Lynch has indicated on several occasions in the past, the HSE has been reconfiguring mental health services in the Carlow, Kilkenny and south Tipperary, CKST, area to provide a modern mental health service in line with the recommendations in A Vision for Change, including the strengthening of community mental health teams for adults and children. It is acknowledged by the HSE, and by the Minister of State, that the CKST mental health services have undergone a radical reform programme and that considerable work has been done to date to achieve this fundamental objective. Significant additional investment has been provided to underpin this reform. It is also noteworthy, also, that the mental health resources allocated to CKST on a per capita basis are some of the highest in the country.

Arising from concerns at both clinical and management level in this area, two reviews have been undertaken in recent months relating to governance and patient safety issues in the CKST service. In 2013, the HSE quality and patient safety, QPS, division commissioned a review of governance structures within CKST mental health services. The findings of the review are being finalised. In March 2014, at the initiation of the Mental Health Commission, the Inspectorate of Mental Health Services carried out a targeted intervention into safety and governance for service users in CKST. The outcome of this comprehensive review of service delivery in the area will be reported to the executive of the Mental Health Commission as soon as possible.

Following completion in 2013 of a national QPS audit by the HSE of sudden and unexplained deaths within community mental health services, the HSE mental health division has progressed implementation of its recommendations over the past year. These include engaging with the Mental Health Commission to consider how to encompass the expansion of community services within the notification process and offering additional training in HSE incident management policy and procedures to staff in the mental health services, which incorporates a formal recording and reporting process. I agree with the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, who welcomed the significant governance and management changes which have taken place in the CKST area in recent times, a process that is continuing. We recognise also the significant leadership being provided by consultants, other health professionals and HSE management in this process. We share the common goal of having the best possible mental health services in this particular area, as we are doing elsewhere in the country. We urge, therefore, that all parties in the CKST region facilitate implementation of the recommendations that may arise from the reviews when these are finalised, in tandem with co-operating on all remaining policy and service management issues reflected in A Vision for Change. Our priority must be to continue to strengthen the community mental health teams in this area to meet the needs of all service users.

See this speech in context