Act now to protect mental health funding

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Monday November 01, 2010 11:08

by Amnesty1 - Amnesty International Ireland

info at amnesty dot ie

Mental health services, already cut, are on the chopping block once more. More than 80 organisations, politicians, economists and campaigners are signed up to www.healthrisk.ie to protect our mental health services. Join them and take action.

Frustrated with mental health services?

Mental health affects everyone, yet our mental health system is at breaking point. There is a real threat to people’s mental health, even their lives, if services are cut. The chance to recover, to play a full role in their community is at risk for thousands of people.

People must act now to defend mental health spending in Budget 2011.

You can let the Government and your local TDs know that mental health services must be protected. A minute of your time can make a world of difference.

We know there will be cuts in December’s budget, but mental health services have already been hit hardest:

· over half of all HSE staff cuts last year were from mental health, but it makes up only 9 per cent of the health workforce;
· two hundred children are in adult inpatient units;
· assessment waiting lists for children and adolescents have grown by 14 per cent in less than a year.

Financial stress, debt and unemployment are putting a massive burden on people’s mental health. Demand for services is growing as people look for support. Suicide and self-harm levels rose sharply last year.

Any further cuts in Budget 2011 will signal the death knell of mental health reform. It will condemn another generation of Irish people to a mental health system left over from the Victorian age of asylums.

We all need to speak out and to stand up.