The Mental Health Champion, Professor Siobhán O’Neill, appeared before the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday 5th November, providing that committee, which previously reported on the issue of mental health services in Northern Ireland, with an update on a range of topics.
Professor O’Neill told MLAs that Northern Ireland knows what needs to be done on mental health but that the challenge is in delivery, not strategy. She highlighted workforce challenges and pointed out that the absence of key voluntary and community sector organisations from the Department of Health’s workforce review amounted to a significant blind spot and called for periodic, inclusive reviews.
She also stated that the onset of the Right Care Right Person policy is taking place without a properly formed alternative to PSNI support in most crisis situations, even as a range of sectoral partners are working on developing new support pathways.
Professor O’Neill stressed the economic impact of mental illness. Mental illness is, she said, the largest contributor to Northern Ireland’s economic inactivity rate, the highest in the United Kingdom, and people here are more disabled by mental health conditions. The per-head public spending on mental health services, meanwhile, is behind England, Scotland and Wales.
The subject of supported housing also featured in Professor O’Neill’s presentation. She referred to supported housing as essential health infrastructure and recommended that the Northern Ireland Executive develop a cross-departmental strategy to assess supported housing need and build more units.
She went on to say that while the Mental Health Strategy is becoming out of date, it needs to be prioritised. Maximising available resources must be a priority for the Executive.
Click here to watch the full evidence session (beginning at 23.25).