Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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391. To ask the Minister for Health to set out his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding Longford Westmeath mental health services. [49035/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Since coming into office, this Government has prioritised the reform of our mental health services in line with the recommendations in A Vision for Change. Additional funding totalling €125 million and some 1,100 new posts have been provided primarily to strengthen Community Mental Health Teams for both adults and children and to enhance specialist community mental health services for older people with a mental illness, those with an intellectual disability and mental illness, and forensic mental health services.

Implementation ofVision is ongoing. Work will be undertaken during 2015 to prioritise outstanding actions informing the identification of any gaps in service. The additional €35 million provided for mental health in Budget 2015 will be directed towards the continued prioritised development and reconfiguration of General Adult teams, including Psychiatry of Later Life, and Child and Adolescent Community Mental Health teams. This will be delivered through further recruitment and investment in agencies and services in order to achieve a consistent service provision across all areas. In addition, the funding will also permit urgent specialist needs to be addressed, including psychiatric intensive care, forensic mental health, mental health intellectual disability care, and psychiatric liaison services.

The level of health services to be delivered within the total available mental health budget has been set out in the recently published HSE National Service Plan (NSP) 2015. The HSE Mental Health Division National Operational Plan, which is currently being developed, will support the implementation of the NSP 2015 and will detail the spectrum of services provided by each Mental Health Service Extended Catchment Area and the priorities for 2015.

As the specific issues raised in the Deputy’s question relate to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for investigation and direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, he can contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with the HSE.