Dáil debates
Thursday, 22 October 2015
Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions
Mental Health Services Funding
9:55 am
Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Minister for Health the reason there was no specific 2016 funding commitment of €35 million for mental health in budget 2016 in line with the programme for Government and previous budget announcements; if the €15 million not provided in budget 2014 will also be provided in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36797/15]
Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Why was no specific funding commitment for mental health announced in budget 2016? A commitment of €35 million was expected but the programme provided for last week in the debate did not outline any budget funding for mental health. Perhaps the Minister of State would comment in this regard.
Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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In line with the programme for Government, my priority as Minister has been to modernise our mental health services and to prioritise new resources to underpin the implementation of A Vision for Change, something that should have been done when we had lots of money but was not.Despite severe financial pressures, the Government has provided additional ring-fenced mental health funding of €125 million between 2012 and end 2015. The additional €20 million provided for mental health in 2014 must be seen in the context of the overall additional ring-fenced funding for mental health since 2012. This amount was considered appropriate given the challenge in recruiting staff to new posts, which has improved since then. The overall additional ring-fenced funding since 2012 represents a significant investment, facilitating the prioritised development and reconfiguration of community mental health teams for adults, children and adolescents. The funding is also being used to enhance specialist community mental health services for older people with a mental illness and people with an intellectual disability and mental illness, forensic mental health services, enhancement of access to counselling and psychotherapy in primary care and for suicide prevention measures.
The details of the 2016 budget will be finalised with the HSE in the context of approval of its 2016 national service plan, which will also outline the total amount of funding for all services, including mental health services, in 2016. In line with the commitment in the programme for Government, an additional €35 million will be provided in 2016 to accelerate the pace of change to develop a modern, patient-centred and recovery-orientated mental health service. This means that despite serious resource pressures overall, the Government will provide funding of €160 million up to the end of 2016, which has been specifically earmarked for new developments in mental health and suicide prevention. This will enable the HSE to continue to develop and modernise our mental health services in line with the recommendations of A Vision for Change.
Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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This question arises out of an exchange between the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, with Dr. Sara Burke at a recent press conference at which time the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, when asked about the mental health budget said that because it had not been decided yet and there were dynamic figures, they needed to work it out. He also said that they were within the range. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, commented to the effect that the commitment to mental health is for €35 million every year for the lifetime of the Government. Can we take it as a given that €35 million is being provided under budget 2016? The Minister of State might when responding to that question comment on the position on the 2014 shortfall of €15 million. It is debatable whether €35 million was provided in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Let us start afresh. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, has given a commitment today that €35 million will be provided in 2016. Is the €15 million not provided in 2014 incorporated in the €35 million for this year?
Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Perhaps there is something lacking in me but I do not understand the final part of the Deputy's question. The sum of €35 million is being provided this year. The provision for 2014 was €20 million.
Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Government committed to the provision of €35 million every year.
Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The reason only €20 million was provided in 2014 was because of the significant difficulties experienced in recruitment, not only in the mental health service area but across a range of areas. We were in the lucky position of being able to recruit because we were provided with the funding to do so and because we got sanction to breach the moratorium. Unfortunately, because the overall context of recruitment in terms of health was down, we were unable to spend the €35 million. It is as simple as that. I did not jump up and down about it, as it were, because I was aware of the difficulties being experienced in the recruitment phase. We are now having more traction in recruitment such that the €35 million allocation for this year will be spent.
It is important to point out that the focus for the next year will be on old age psychiatry, which sadly has been neglected, and counselling in primary care, which is where most people present. We need to focus our attention on what can be done to stop people having to present at the more acute services and that is what we will do. The counselling in primary care service, CIPC, which was hugely successful last year in terms of counselling for adults, will be developed for people under 18 years.
Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will come back to the Minister of State for a further reply.
Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I do not blame her for the recruitment issue but somebody has to take responsibility for it. In the HSE service plan the recruitment of staff was deliberately time delayed because of cuts in mental health service budgets. The Minister of State cannot have it both ways. The difficulties in recruiting arose because somebody made a policy decision not to recruit. That is the difficulty.
The Minister of State, in responding to a question from me over the course of the summer, said that we were 2,900 staff short of the full implementation of A Vision for Change. In 2011, we had a solid commitment on ring-fenced funding on current expenditure. Is the Minister of State satisfied that over the course of the past four years, €35 million per annum was successfully secured? What has been the cumulative current expenditure impact of that with respect to the 2,900 whole-time equivalents?
Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I am satisfied. I can also inform the Deputy - this has not been said publicly before - that to ensure the €35 million does not get lost in the system, it remains in the Department of Health and is only spent as required. That decision was taken to ensure we retained control of the €35 million. I can confirm to the Deputy that all that money was spent in mental health.
Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Halligan has sent his apologies that he cannot be in the Chamber to take Question No. 5.