Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Freeman for her work to date in trying to remove the stigma from mental health and in advocating strongly, as do all Members, for improved mental health services.

Last Monday the Minster of State, Deputy Daly, went to Galway to meet Tony Canavan, the chief officer of community health care organisation 2, with regard to mental health services in Roscommon, following an external report commissioned to consider the quality, safety and governance structures of those services. It is a very damning report and we must learn from its recommendations that services should be delivered to a very high standard. That is not what happened in previous years in our mental health services. We very much need to learn from the mistakes of the past. We need to look at where they were made and we need to look for improvements.

I want there to be better accountability. There is much discussion of budgets but we need to ensure that every euro given to a particular service is used in an appropriate manner and to achieve maximum impact for service users and their families. We need to ensure that proper clinical supervision is in place to support staff. In order for mental health teams to work well, there needs to be excellent communication, good teamwork, a good knowledge of clients and the service needs to be adequately resourced to deliver that. That is not what has happened in Roscommon mental health services to date. The recommendations clearly set out the need for proper accountability, better mentoring and for management to properly engage with staff so that they all feel the need to achieve goals to ensure the aims of A Vision for Change are delivered. There have been some improvements, in particular with regard to home-based care, and we need to move towards that service of helping people in their own communities at very difficult times for them. As a public representative based in Roscommon, I want to see improvements in mental health services in the area and that is why the Minister of State went to Galway on Monday.

An implementation team has been set up and is meeting on a fortnightly basis. I have been assured that the Minister of State will receive monthly reports on the progress of the group. We need to see actions arising from it, in particular with regard to management properly engaging with staff. We must ensure that our mental health service is modernised in order that clients of every age can access it during times that are very difficult for them. We also need to help families support clients with mental health difficulties.That is my key message. We need proper accountability regarding budgets. We have particular difficulties also with staff recruitment. While some improvements have been made, we need to make greater strides to attract staff to work within our mental health services. The teams need proper human resources to function as they should.

This motion deals with crisis intervention, but we also need to look at mental health services across Departments as well as from an enabling and well-being point of view. The preventive aspect is also extremely important. I acknowledge, however, that today we are dealing with the 24-7 crisis intervention service. A service must be available to people and their families when they need it most. We all know of very difficult and sad cases of individuals who felt they did not have the assistance they needed. We must do more. Specifically, I refer to Roscommon mental health services on which I want to see action. I want to see improvements in the quality of the service that is delivered. Management has signed up to the 27 clear recommendations in the report and now we need to see action. We need modern mental health services that reach out to people when they most need it.