Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Regional Group for bringing this motion and putting the spotlight on mental health, particularly in time of Covid. It was forgotten about, certainly at the beginning of the pandemic. I will focus on the Mental Health Commission, which I noticed that the Minister of State did not mention. I acknowledge that she cannot mention everything but she gave a very long speech. I welcome that she is going to bring legislation before the Dáil to reform the 2001 Act. I welcome the fact that we are getting nearer to the implementation body and I will come back to that if I have time. I am a little concerned about its independence. That is subject to the Minister of State telling me it is totally independent and who the members are because it is an essential feature in the mental health area.

The Mental Health Commission's annual report for 2019 stated that now was the time for real reform. It noted:

The current Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted in stark terms the need for a modern, well-staffed, holistic community-based mental health service. This can only occur when mental health is appropriately prioritised.

Clearly it has not been. This and previous commissions have been continuously forced to highlight that the system is ad hoc, sporadic, lacks integration and much of the mental health interventions are still linked to institutional care in the community.

In the 1980s, the Planning for the Future policy was to de-institutionalise care. That has happened in name but not in reality. Then there was A Vision For Change, which was a wonderful document but was not implemented. The current policy is Sharing the Vision and its implementation will totally depend on whether there is an independent monitoring committee because as the record shows, no Government can be trusted on mental health.

To return to its report, the Mental Health Commission found that compliance with regulation, that is, with obligatory measures, remained similar to 2018 at 78%. It said it was disappointing that the modest improvements since 2016 did not continue. There was also a thematic report on physical health from the inspector, which pointed out that physical health is not a top priority when it comes to those who also suffer from mental illness or a psychological problem. This is stark. It remains a fact that in the 21st century, people with a mental illness will die 15 to 20 years earlier than their peers in the general communities, in many cases due to preventative physical illness. The historic separation of physical and mental healthcare within the organisation has led to a situation where specialist mental health training and the associated practices have not been put to the fore.

I will conclude with some statistics. There were 208 instances of over-capacity in 2019. The report noted "It is clear that a significant amount of premises are no longer suitable and need to be replaced."Some 23 centres, 49%, were non-compliant due to poor structural or decorative condition. There were 54 child admissions to 15 adult units. While the trend is down, that is still totally unacceptable. The report remarked on the poor quality in monitoring the physical health of residents and the impact of staffing shortages, and the final thing I will mention is the delayed discharges in Galway. The Mental Health Commission spoke of patients being there for more than six months. I would like a breakdown of that figure because some have been there for years.

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