The need for separate emergency facilities for people with Mental Health issues is essential and the findings of the Expert Advisory Group on Ireland’s next ‘Suicide Reduction Strategy’ don’t reflect that.
That’s according to Aontú Senator Sarah O’ Reilly, who says the lived experiences of people presenting for help together with those bereaved by suicide points to the practical and urgent need for separate specialised units, yet this is not reflected in the Strategy.
She says,
“I was a member of the ‘Connecting for Life’ group as a member of Cavan County Council, and I know the heartbreak, the pain and the suffering of those living with Mental Health difficulties. They are crying out for help but coming up a brick wall in so many instances.
I must say that I am quite disappointed that the Expert Advisory Group on Ireland’s next Suicide Reduction Strategy don’t reflect the findings from the public consultation on Ireland’s next suicide reduction strategy.
Both of these groups were convened by the Department of Health but have arrived at quite different conclusions.
The public consultation took place involving people with lived experience, HSE staff, NGOs, and key professional stakeholders like front-line workers, educators and clinicians.
A key finding was that A and E’s are not appropriate places for people experiencing mental health crises.
They’re clearly not; they are often overcrowded, they are full of people who may be in pain, may be inebriated, may be traumatised themselves and this is definitely not the environment for people presenting in a highly fragile and vulnerable state.
One stark finding from the public consultation process was that A and E’s could, in some cases, be harmful to people in a mental health crisis.
This is desperately serious and has to be treated as such.
It is not fair on the patients who present or indeed the staff who are not trained to deal with people with suicidal ideation and mental distress.
It’s very frustrating that an in-depth public consultation process took place, yet the Expert Advisory Group are still recommending that people with mental health issues go to A and E.
Alternatives like dedicated mental health A and E’s are vital. Other countries have recognised that standard Accident and Emergency’s are ill equipped to deal with the very particular needs of people with mental health issues and have developed specialist services.
We can take the example of Sweden which is home to the world’s first Psychiatry Emergency Response Team who deploy ambulances staffed and entirely dedicated to mental health and suicide intervention incidents. The UK too has recognised the need for specialist emergency services and has opened Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams that people can use without having to go to A and E.
We have to do better in this country and there is little point in assembling groups for a public consultation process if their recommendations are largely ignored”
