Jim Higgins
Question:8 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Health if the number of people with mental handicap is on the increase or decrease; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Mental Handicap Population.
As people with mental handicap now enjoy a near normal life span, it is expected that there will continue to be an annual growth in numbers until 2010.
Under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress, the Government are committed to the development of mental handicap services to meet the needs of the growing mental handicap population.
Does the Minister not agree that, apart from the fact that mentally handicapped people are living longer, there seems to be evidence which shows that certain types of mental handicap are on the increase? For example, I understand there is evidence which shows that Down's syndrome is particularly prevalent, and growing, in Galway west and that other types of mental handicap are on the increase in other areas. What research is being carried out by the Department in this area and what does the Minister hope to report to the House in due course as a result of same?
I do not have specific figures for the different types of mental handicap and their prevalence in Ireland. I do not have any evidence to substantiate what the Deputy has said but a survey is in course of preparation to try to get detailed information. As the Deputy will appreciate, mild handicap may not come to light for some years whereas the information should be available in regard to the more severe forms of handicap. When I have the information I will communicate with the Deputy.
Does the Minister not agree that the programme to which he referred does not contain any clear targets for extra care provision for the handicapped and no clear commitment of funds for that specific area of service? Would he not further agree that the provision this year of £1 million, when £23 million is arguably needed, and his lack of commitment to any improvement in residential accommodation and physio, speech and occupational therapy give the parents of handicapped children little hope that the programme will improve their position?
I do not accept that. I have spelt out very clearly in the programme a commitment to the care and development of services for the mentally handicapped.
There is rhetoric but no target.
Let us hear the Minister without interruption.
More importantly, the money is spelt out in the programme.
Only £1 million——
There will be £8 million this year.
I am talking about the mentally handicapped.
There will be £90 million in real terms in the last year of the programme and it will increase each year until we reach that amount. This is spelt out in the programme and is an indication of the Government's commitment to community services, including those for the mentally handicapped. I stand on my record in that regard and anyone can challenge me on it in terms of the funding which has been provided for the mentally handicapped since I came into office. Those services have been more than protected.
May I ask the Minister what he will say to the 422 people on the waiting list for residential accommodation in the Eastern Health Board area, some of whose parents are picketing outside the gate of this House today in terrible conditions in a desperate attempt to get accommodation for their relatives who suffer from some form of mental handicap?
I accept, as I stated before the Deputy came in, that there are gaps in the service. This year while the £1 million will provide an increased number of places, we had decided, on the allocation before the extra money was provided in the budget, to open some of the places in Cheeverstown. There will be a substantial number of places coming onstream this year in the Eastern Health Board area and of course in other health board areas.
Would the Minister agree that the treatment meted out to the mentally handicapped and their families is nothing short of a national scandal? Would he agree further that absolute priority should be given in the health budget to these people who are the least advantaged and most defenceless sector in the community?
I do not agree with the Deputy that the manner in which the mentally handicapped are treated is a national scandal. That is a reflection on the people working in that area who provide such a quality and caring service that I defy anyone to point to anything better in Europe. I accept there are gaps in the service and we have already discussed them. This year, as a result of our original allocation, together with extra money provided in the budget, we will be closing some of those gaps. Unfortunately it is not possible to close them all. The Programme for Economic and Social Progress spells out the Government's commitment over the next seven years.
Would the Minister agree that the total number of residential places required for the handicapped is about 2,000? Would he further agree that with the additional £2 million provided last year 140 places were made available? That allocation has been reduced this year to £1 million, which presumably will provide approximately 70 places. What about the other 1,000 places that are required? We are not pulling figures out of the sky. Has the Minister not heard of these figures? Does he not agree the need is there, particularly in the area of the handicapped?
I do not know how many times I have stated that I accept there are gaps, and I have pointed out what the Government are doing about it. My understanding is that there are about 12,000 people in care in Ireland and not 2,000.
There is need for additional places.
There is a number of Deputies offering. We are dwelling too long on individual questions. I am calling Deputy Nuala Fennell. I trust the Deputy will be very brief. I will then call the other two Deputies who are offering.
As the Minister raised the question of accommodation in Cheeverstown would he give an assurance to the House that there has not been a breakdown in negotiations with regard to staff? We want to ensure that the accommodation will be provided as quickly as possible.
The Deputy is quite right. I inherited the problem when I came into Government of the difficulty between Cheeverstown and the Eastern Health Board, but I am glad to say that has been resolved.
Would the Minister acknowledge the tremendous contribution that has been made by the voluntary groups involved in mental handicap work? Were it not for their ceaseless task of collecting extra finance every year, the allocation from the Department would seem minuscule.
On the contrary, as I have pointed out in response to an earlier question, the funding from my Department has increased by 40 per cent in the last five years——
What have they done?
——which is a very substantial increase. In addition we have funded a lot of the voluntary organisations from national lottery funds for the development of community based activities. Through our Estimate we have provided an increased allocation of 40 per cent. There are very few other areas in the public service that have received an increase of that magnitude in the last five years.
Is there any provision in this year's budget to open up more places in Áras Attracta, Swinford, which caters at present for 55 patients even though there are facilities to cater for 160 patients? All the facilities have been provided——
The Deputy is referring to a specific matter which is worthy of a separate question.
It is not, because if the numbers are increasing the budget should cater for that increase.
Please, Deputy. I am calling Deputy Nora Owen.
Will the Minister say what arrangements his Department are making to provide alternative accommodation for psychiatric patients who are at present accommodated in mentally handicapped hospitals? It is unacceptable that these patients are accommodated together.
A report of a working party dealing with this matter will be available in the near future. That report draws attention to the fact that there are 1,500 mentally handicapped patients in psychiatric hospitals. It has been policy for the last two years that no mentally handicapped person is admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
Sorry, it is the other way around.
I will deal with the Deputy's question now. There will be no increase in the number of mentally handicapped people in psychiatric hospitals as a result of that policy. As regards the provision of places, when places come onstream they are allocated on the basis of priority. I am not sure that we would do justice to the 1,500 mentally handicapped people who are in psychiatric hospitals — many of them unfortunately have been institutionalised for 20 years and those institutions are now their homes — by taking them out and placing them in different surroundings. Certainly any of them who would be more appropriately placed in the community or in other forms of accommodation will be so placed, but that will have to be considered in the context of the available places and the competing priority from people who are already waiting for places.
I was talking about psychiatric patients in mentally handicapped hospitals.
Order. No. 9, Deputy Deenihan's question. Let us make some progress.