Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue for discussion. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is in Latvia on Government business today. She has asked me to convey her apologies to the Senator and the House.

Recent years have seen the Health Service Executive's mental health services nationally tackle the challenges of reorientating from a hospital and bed-based focus to developing the structures and processes required for enhanced community-based provision in line with national policy under A Vision for Change which recommends that integrated care be provided for service users in their local community and delivered primarily through community mental health teams, each of which would typically cater for a population of approximately 50,000 to be effective.

Galway-Roscommon mental health services are committed to full implementation of A Vision for Change. As such, their guiding principles are patient centeredness, equality, access to quality care that is focused on recovery, and integration with other mental health and mainstream health services. Recognising the need to reconfigure services in line with A Vision for Change, the HSE in Galway-Roscommon appointed an expert group to review local community mental health services. The report of the expert group was published in June 2014, with a focus on residential care settings and resources across both counties. The key goal of the report was to make recommendations that would ensure service users maximised their full potential and saw improvements in the quality of their lives.

The HSE in Galway-Roscommon provides an inpatient and community mental health service for a population of 314,000. It is at an advanced stage in the implementation of A Vision for Change and has moved into population sectors of 50,000, appointed team co­ordinators and developed an overarching clinical governance model. There are six general adult team sectors which are clinically led by two consultant psychiatrists and a multidisciplinary team, as highlighted in A Vision for Change. Each sector has its own unique service needs, based on identified population, age groups, culture, etc. There are 12 consultant general adult psychiatrists across the two counties which, again, is in line with A Vision for Change. Recent initiatives include the development of a psychiatry of later life team, the provision of an intensive home treatment team for the Roscommon area, the opening of an adolescent day hospital and the provision of a 20-bed child and adolescent inpatient unit with a 24-hours admissions policy.

In addition, Galway-Roscommon mental health services were successful in securing 58 additional new staff posts through development funding since 2012, of which 45 are in place. The remaining 13 posts are at various stages of recruitment. The make-up of these posts includes additional consultants in the areas of general adult community mental health teams, psychiatry of later life teams and rehabilitation and recovery teams, as well as occupational therapists, community mental health nurses, social workers and psychologists.

In the light of the above and consistent with the approach of reconfiguring services across all areas, it is not proposed to undertake the type of review suggested by the Senator. However, if he has any specific issue he wishes to pursue, he should contact either Galway-Roscommon mental health services or the office of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch.