Results 6,221-6,240 of 11,464 for speaker:Mary Butler

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: There is also greater flexibility in the skills mix in CAMHS teams under the Sharing the Vision policy than existed in the previous A Vision for Change strategy. A Vision for Change provided for a more prescriptive model. Increased flexibility in this regard will create opportunities for more focused care at local level. This new approach is not as prescriptive and again seeks to put...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: We provide the budget and the HSE is then in charge of recruitment. As I said, work in this area is undertaken in close co-operation with Dr. Niazi, who, with his team, looks after recruitment for the clinical programmes. They have been working very hard to recruit staff in this area. Representatives from the HSE would probably provide more succinct answers on recruitment for the Deputy....

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank the Deputy for his question. The team around me here will know that I have been talking about eating disorders for the past 14 months because, as Deputy Kenny, rightly said, it has manifested, especially last year and this year, in the context of the pandemic. I am open to correction but I think close to 487 young people were admitted last year with an eating disorder, especially...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: The recruitment process is on target to have all of those specialists in post by the end of this year. We are very close. I thank Dr. Amir Niazi and his team for the phenomenal work they have done recruiting in a very difficult time, one which was compounded by Covid-19 and the cyberattack. I am very concerned about eating disorders and self-harm among young people. These are huge issues...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: The Deputy mentioned the budget in the UK, which is interesting. Last week, I met a colleague in Northern Ireland who is a mental health champion. I was surprised to learn that there is no minister for mental health in Northern Ireland. A mental health champion has been appointed there. As part of the shared island initiative whereby the North and South collaborate, I met her last week...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank Senator Black for the work she does on mental health and chairing this committee. It is important. This is a sub-committee of the larger Oireachtas health committee, but there is so much in the health area and it is good that there is a specific focus within a committee on mental health. I thank the committee for the amount of work it has done. I assure the committee, the...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: That is fine. One of the questions asked was about recommendation 2 and access to mental health services, including access to emergency services. Sharing the Vision specifically promotes access to out-of-hours mental health supports and alternative access routes to emergency care.

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: I do. Can you hear me, Chair?

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: Can you hear me now?

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: Okay. One of the recommendations relates to out-of-hours crisis resolution teams, crisis cafés and the development of digital supports. I would like to speak a little about crisis cafés, or community cafés as I prefer to call them. I travelled to Galway recently to officially open a crisis café. It is located immediately across from University Hospital Galway. It is...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank the Chair. I will allow Dr. Dodd to answer because he works very closely with the National Office for Suicide Prevention and he will be able to give the Chair a response to those questions.

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank Dr. Dodd. The National Suicide Research Foundation's suicide and self-harm observatory, which monitors suicide mortality data in the Cork region, has provided us with a snapshot of real-time data in 2020. I am informed that based on a yearly comparison, no significant increase has been observed between 2019 and 2020 despite the onset of the pandemic and the implementation of...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: The Chair has raised something that can be very difficult, particularly for people who might be homeless or who might not have the facility to have a smartphone. People might not have access to a computer or tablet or whatever is required. Last year, I was delighted to see my colleague, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, roll out...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: I do not mind.

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: The most important thing in relation to Sharing the Vision is that it is cross-departmental. That is very important. Once upon a time, people believed that if they had poor mental health or a mental illness they were dealt with by the Department of Health, the HSE or a local general practitioner but much of the time the issues by which the person is compounded are, for example, challenges...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: As Dr. Dodd has been involved in this work as well, I ask him to comment.

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank Dr. Dodd. By way of add-on, I am meeting the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, at 3 p.m. today to discuss mental health supports for students, primary and secondary. We will also discuss trauma-based counselling for children who would deal with specific issues during their time in school. There is quite a lot of work going on in the background. At times, it is just about...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: The question crosses over a couple of sections. Palliative care does not come under my remitper se; rather it comes under the remit of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly. From the well-being point of view, it comes under the remit of the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan. There is no doubt that in terms of the challenges that people have faced over the last 16 to 18 months, they have...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: I will make a couple of points. The Department is acutely conscious of people with lived experience when determining policy or looking, for example, at how we should change and adapt to the issues we have dealt with in the pandemic. As I said, regarding the national implementation and monitoring committee there are 17 key people on the steering committee. There is a person there with lived...

Joint Committee On Health: Impacts of Covid-19 on Mental Health Services: Discussion (14 Sep 2021)

Mary Butler: This year, for example, we had a significant consultation on the Mental Health Act in April. Mr. Kelly might be able to tell us a little bit about that because quite a lot of submissions - over 100 - were received.