Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are certain areas where we need to make sure we get qualified people to fill the posts. We need consultant psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and social care workers. That is what the teams consist of and all of those posts cannot be filled in all cases. However, the Minister of State is working towards filling every one of those posts that need to be filled. Figures are already available with regard to what posts are filled and with regard to the targets for the end of this year. I know the Minister of State will do everything possible to make sure those positions are filled.

There is also the whole issue of moving mental health towards primary care, in particular the counselling in primary care service, which was launched in 2013 to provide access at primary care level. The target is to provide short-term counselling to more than 13,000 people, with eight counselling sessions to address mild to moderate psychological difficulties. In July of this year, this was made available, and 2,648 referrals were made between just July and October, which shows that change is occurring. While it will take time to implement and will not happen overnight, the Minister of State is doing everything possible, as are the Department and the people working within the HSE. I accept there will be difficulties in certain areas and we will have to deal with those difficulties and move forward.

A Vision for Change sets out that we would move away from the traditional institution-based model.

I was involved some years ago in dealing with several nursing home cases. One of them involved a member of the Army who was 18 years of age in 1956. The Army authorities had written to his parents at that time to say that if they did not come to collect him, he would be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Fifty years later, he was still in that facility, even though everybody acknowledged there was nothing wrong with him other than that he had become institutionalised. That is the system we worked with in this country for far too long. That was the accepted norm in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

We are trying to change the system so that such things cannot recur. That change involves the provision of community-based services involving a comprehensive team of staff and a range of expertise. The stigma that was attached to mental health problems in the past must be removed forever. The Minister of State is working to ensure the changes set out in A Vision for Change are fully implemented. By the end of the Government's term, substantial progress will have been made, in contrast to the delays that occurred between 2006 and 2011. Certainly, within the next five years the bulk of the programme will have been put in place and fully operational. I ask my colleagues to support the Government amendment.