This article is from page 6 of the 2008-01-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
THE HSE has come under attack for its handling of the money secured from the sale of Our Lady’s Hospi- tal, as the mental health service in the county continues to be under- funded.
The Irish Psychiatric Associa- tion this week criticized the way the health authorities disposed of property assets associated with Irish mental hospitals.
The Clare Mental Health Services was one of the authorities stripped
of their assets according to the IPA, when 40 acres of Our Lady’s Hos- pital site was sold to Clare County Council and Shannon Development Authority for €2.6 million.
A report from the association points to widespread ‘asset-stripping’ of buildings and land. It stated lands linked to psychiatric facilities were sold or given away at significant un- der-valuations and any financial real- isation was not paid into the mental health service.
The IPA made the accusations on the second anniversary of the pub-
lication of the Government’s mental health policy, ‘A Vision for Change’. The policy committed the Govern- ment to spending €25 million extra a year on mental health services. The Irish Mental Health Coalition (IMHC) said almost half the budget allocated to the HSE in 2006 and 2007 to implement this policy had been spent on deficits in other areas. According to information received by the IMSC under FOI, just over half (57 per cent) of the 2006 funding of the mental health plan was spent, with only 40 per cent of the budget
spent in 2007.
The HSE said the balance of the funding from these years was time- delayed to address core deficits in existing mental health services.
In a statement, the HSE said it ac- cepted all the recommendations of ‘A Vision for Change’ and is work- ing to ensure that everybody has easy access to high quality mental health care and services.
“Such fundamental changes will inevitably take time to implement, but to date steady progress has been made,’ the spokesperson said.
Priorities outlined for 2008 and 2009 included the provision of eight additional consultant child psychia- try teams, together with an increase in the inpatient bed capacity from 12 to 30 by the end of 2008.
“The Waiting List report on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services completed in 2007 will be utilised to develop a number of in- centives to address waiting lists,” it Cr HOR
Clare and the mid-west region cur- rently have no adolescent psychia- eho