asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to a statement of the chief executive officer of the North Western Health Board that a lack of money was delaying the change from institutional care to community based care for psychiatric patients; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Care of Psychiatric Patients.
49.
I am aware of the statement made by the chief executive officer at a recent meeting of the North-Western Health Board outlining the considerable progress which has been made in that area in developing community based psychiatric services as outlined in the report Planning for the Future.
Since the publication of this report, capital grants of the order of £600,000 have been made available to the North-Western Health Board towards improvements at its psychiatric hospitals and the development of community psychiatric services.
In 1989, the North-Western Health Board will receive approximately 20 per cent of the capital funds available to my Department. I acknowledge that additional capital funds are required to continue the progress made by the board in developing a community based service. I would urge the board to consider the extent to which these projects could be funded from capital resources available to the board.