Written answers

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

Department of Health and Children

Mental Health Services

8:00 pm

Photo of Joe CostelloJoe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 451: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will respond to criticism by Amnesty International of the Health Service Executive's accounting system for the national mental health budget; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38230/09]

Photo of Frank FeighanFrank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 467: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will consider implementing two urgent recommendations of a recent report's new performance indicators along with up to date data should be developed and published by Health Service Executive to enable accurate monitoring of mental health budget and to ensure the most effective use of scarce resources to improve value for money; and if she will consider a greater move to community based care away from long stay institutional beds. [38316/09]

Photo of John MoloneyJohn Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 451 and 467 together.

Under the Health Act 2004 the Health Service Executive is required to prepare and submit an annual Service Plan to the Minister for approval. The Service Plan must, inter alia, reflect the policies and objectives of the Minister and the Government.

Significant progress was made in the HSE Service Plan 2009 in terms of incorporating more explicit links between funding, staffing and services and the development of an improved set of activity measures, performance indicators and deliverables in key service areas, including in the mental health area, which are matched with timescales. These improvements form a framework for achieving greater clarity at an individual service unit level within the HSE on performance expectations regarding service delivery, staffing levels and funding. My Department has an agreed monitoring framework with the HSE and receives detailed comprehensive monthly reports on all aspects of progression of the National Service Plan, including information on activity measures and performance indicators. These Performance Reports are published on the HSE's website each month following approval by the HSE Board.

My Department is working on an ongoing collaborative basis with the HSE to further develop and refine performance measures across all service areas, including mental health, to ensure that they are as robust and meaningful as possible and reflect key priorities and international best practice as well as being comparable both within the EU and further afield.

The modernisation of mental health services in line with 'A Vision for Change'is the responsibility of the HSE. It can be achieved to a significant extent through the remodelling of existing resources which will result in the creation of a patient-centred, flexible and community based mental health service, where need for hospital admission is greatly reduced, whilst still providing in-patient care when appropriate. In January 2008, the Office for Disability and Mental Health was established and one of its priorities is to drive implementation of 'A Vision for Change'. In April 2009, the HSE adopted an implementation plan for the five year period 2009-2013 and it has also recently appointed a national lead for mental health who will bring a new impetus to the implementation of 'A Vision for Change'.

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