MENTAL Health Reform has today called on the Government to invest €85M in Ireland’s mental health services in Budget 2022 to address the long-term mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The national coalition for mental health which represents 77 organisations working across the community and voluntary sector, has highlighted the urgent need to increase funding for mental health services which are seeing a record number of referrals since the pandemic began.
CEO of Mental Health Reform, Fiona Coyle, said: “COVID-19 has adversely affected the physical and mental wellbeing of many people in Ireland. Thousands more people have come forward to access support during this difficult period.
Evidence is emerging of a shadow pandemic, where the burden of trauma will have a profound impact on mental health and primary care services for many years. This needs a clear and comprehensive response from the Government, including a step-change in funding levels. Now is the time to resource, rebuild and reform our mental health services; we cannot go back to a broken system.
The Government must seize this opportunity to strengthen our mental health services and resource them to meet current and emerging need. Funding is essential to address the historical underinvestment in our mental health system and to progress the implementation of our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision. Mental Health Reform recommends that investment of at least €85M is needed including €65M for the development of new mental health services and €20M to meet the costs of existing levels of service.
A credible mental health budget is critical to Ireland’s COVID-19 recovery. We believe it is no longer acceptable for spending on mental health to remain at 6% of the overall health budget. Ireland lags far behind on mental health spending according to international comparisons, with states such as Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, France, and the UK allocating between 10 – 13%. Mental Health Reform urges the Government to increase spending on mental health to 10% of the total health budget by 2024.
Our mental health system is under severe pressure with long waiting lists, staff shortages and a lack of therapeutic support in many areas. The pandemic has further exposed these shortfalls as mental health services struggle to meet increasing demand.
Now more than ever we need a fit-for-purpose, responsive mental health system in which people can access the care they need when they need it. Ireland urgently requires a mental health service that can meet the challenges of the pandemic and its aftermath.”
Mental Health Reform is calling for investment in the following areas:
- Prioritise the recruitment of primary care psychologists and assistant psychologists to reduce waiting times and divert referrals from specialist services
- Invest €2M in national advocacy services for children and adults with mental health difficulties in hospital, prison, residences and in the community
- Provide €6.5M for the national expansion of the CAMHS Connect model to improve out of hours crisis intervention mental health services for children and young people
- Invest €7.8M in National Clinical Programmes to meet specific mental health needs
- Invest €15M in the community and voluntary sector to support the delivery of mental health services including counselling and psychotherapy
- Invest in affordable housing for people with mental health disabilities including €1M to maintain 10 Tenancy Sustainment Officer posts
- Invest €5.5M to improve mental health supports in the prison system
- Invest in the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach to support people with mental health difficulties to achieve sustainable employment
