Locals demand action on mental health support

A LOCAL campaigner handed in a petition to the Dáil last week calling on the Government to introduce 24/7 crisis intervention centres around Dublin for those in urgent need of mental health support.

Anne Ellis, of Finglas HOPE Mental Health Support Group, was left devastated when her son was turned away from A&E two years ago due to a lack of beds for patients with mental health issues.

She has been a vocal campaigner with the Finglas HOPE Group ever since but their demands for better mental health services throughout the city are largely falling on deaf ears in Leinster House.

“We’re already in a crisis,” Ellis told Northside People.

“We’re losing 500 people a year to suicide. When are people going to wake up and admit that the system is not working?

“You cannot cut a service that’s in crisis, you just can’t do it. If you’re serious about saving lives well then don’t cut the budget for the most vulnerable people in society – don’t cut their budget.”

The budget cuts Ellis is referring to was the Government’s recent decision to invest just €15 million in mental health services for 2017 instead of the agreed €35 million that was supposed to be ringfenced for next year.

Ellis and other Finglas HOPE Mental Health Support Group activists protested the cuts by staging a public protest outside Leinster House last week where they also called for the introduction of 24/7 support centres for people with urgent mental health needs.

The group had collected hundreds of signatures of support through an online petition and wanted to hand it in to the office of Minister of State for Mental Health and Oder People Helen McEntee.

“I rang the minister’s office I don’t know how many times and they wouldn’t come out,” Ellis claimed.

“Pat Buckley, the Junior Spokesperson on Mental Health & Suicide Prevention for Sinn Féin, took it in and he gave it to the minister but she wouldn’t come out or send her secretary out to take our petition.”

McEntee has defended claims that budgets for mental health have been cut and says the €15 million investment was not an actual €20 million cut from the promised €35 million investment.

She argues that the €15 million investment was actually only an initial investment due to staff delays in taking up services for next year.

“In line with my commitment to achieve a full-year allocation of €35 million in additional funding for mental health, I am initiating €35 million in new services for 2017,” McEntee told the Dáil last month.

Campaigners like Ellis will be watching to see the amount of money the Government will actually spend on mental health services next year, but in the meantime, the Northsider would like to see the Government introduce 24/7 crisis intervention centres to combat the shortage of beds in A&E departments.

“The intervention centres would definitely save lives, that’s no question,” added Ellis.

“There are some people who might not need to be brought to hospital; they might just need to be looked after and have a follow up appointment the next day.

“People are waiting an unreasonably long time for appointments. If you had a crisis intervention service there, it would fill that gap.”