Crisis ‘not being tackled’ as beds for sufferers have decreased by 20%
HEALTH officials must urgently address services for people in mental health crisis, it has been claimed.
The number of mental health hospital beds has decreased by almost 20% over the last five years.
According to the most recent Department of Health figures, the average number of beds available under the mental health programme of care dropped from 646 in 2013/14 to 518 in 2017/18.
However, services in the community for people with mental ill health have not increased proportionately, leaving families caring for suicidal loved ones by themselves.
Siobhan O’Neill, a professor of mental health sciences at Ulster University, said mental health services are chronically underfunded in Northern Ireland, resulting in gaps in treatments and support for patients and their families.
“There has been a change in how the mental health care is delivered with a move towards treating people in their own home, because it is agreed that this is generally the best place for them to be,” she said.
“It can add more trauma when a person is in mental health crisis for them to be placed in a hospital; however, it is essential that the services are there in the community.
“It’s a terrible life for a carer of someone with mental health
❝ When a person feels their needs are not being met, it can increase their feelings of desperation
problems as treatments take so long to work, it can take six weeks to know whether a medication is any good.
“There are also all sorts of confidentiality problems between the carer and the health service.”
Prof O’Neill said it is crucial that people in crisis get the right treatment as soon as possible and called for the implementation of a suicide strategy in Northern Ireland.
She continued: “Our mental health needs are greater in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK.
“The budget for mental health services here is 7% of the total health budget and in England it is twice that, yet our suicide rates are twice the number in England.
“Unfortunately, waiting lists are too long.
“You do find that if a person is in crisis and they ask for help, they may have to wait a number of weeks for an appointment and often people have multiple problems, they may have other issues that need to be addressed before looking at their mental health problems.
“But when a person goes looking for help and they feel like their needs are not being met, it can increase their feelings of isolation and desperation.”
Prof O’Neill was commenting after Alliance Party health spokeswoman Paula Bradshaw wrote to the permanent secretary for the Department of Health asking him how officials plan to address issues facing people in mental health crisis.
She was prompted to contact Richard Pengelly after she was informed that no inpatient mental health bed could be found in Northern Ireland for a person in crisis.
She said: “This must have been a very distressing incident for everyone involved.
“I am sure that the health professionals provided first class support to the patient, however, it is clear that he should have been moved into an alternative, appropriate care environment suited to his immediate needs.
“I have written to the Department of Health to ask how they are going to address this apparent lack of inpatient mental health beds; and how they are going to provide appropriate support to their workforce to ensure that they are equipped to meet the health and well-being needs of the patients when they are facing acute mental health crises.”
The Department of Health did not respond to a request for a comment.