Results 6,241-6,260 of 11,491 for speaker:Mary Butler

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

Mary Butler: We are definitely looking at this year. A huge amount of work has been done. We had issues and the legislation was passed just before Christmas last year. I thank everyone who supported it. We are pushing as hard as we can, however. It is so important for capacity issues, especially for the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, to get over to Portrane as quickly as possible. We will also...

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

Mary Butler: I will let Mr. Kelly in there. He has done a huge amount of work on the mental health Bill and may have any information in that regard.

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

Mary Butler: I do not think so but I am not 100% sure. I see that Dr. Dodd is nodding his head. We are currently looking at trauma-based counselling and I am meeting with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, later to discuss it, especially for children who have been through traumatic experiences. Does Dr. Dodd wish to come in there? I saw him nodding his head.

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

Mary Butler: The majority of people with mental health illnesses would be assigned a key worker. A plan would also be put in place to manage the best results for each person. I do not have a medical background. Decisions concerning the care of people with mental health illnesses would primarily be taken by their medical team and including their psychiatrist or psychologist. I ask Dr. Dodd to conclude...

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

Mary Butler: To conclude on this point, the Sharing the Vision policy focuses on an individualised approach. It seeks to ensure that patients are involved in their own care plans, including individualised care plans. We did not see that approach in the previous document. The important aspect of Sharing the Vision is, therefore, putting patients front and centre and ensuring that they can be involved in...

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

Mary Butler: I thank 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. I also thank him for the constructive approach he always takes when questioning me in the Dáil, as do all his colleagues, regarding issues concerning mental health services. I was also concerned about the waiting lists for CAMHS. As the Deputy said, some of these issues have existed for a while and have been inherited. In addressing this...

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...