Vol. 421 No. 5
24 Mr. McGahon asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that since 1986, the budget for the psychiatric service has been cut by 22 per cent in real terms, and as a result conditions for patients are inadequate.
71 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that since 1986, the budget for the psychiatric service has been cut by 22 per cent in real terms, and as a result conditions for patients are inadequate.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 and 71 together.
I do not accept that there has been a reduction of 22 per cent in real terms in expenditure on the psychiatric services.
Following publication of the report, Planning for the Future in 1984 on the development of services for the mentally ill a policy of transferring suitable patients from an institutional to more appropriate community based care facilities has been pursued vigourously in line with a key recommendation of the report. Numbers in psychiatric hospitals have decreased over the years with 7,818 patients resident in public psychiatric hospitals in 1990 compared to 11,613 in 1984.
The portion of the overall health budget allocated to the psychiatric services each year is fixed at a level to ensure that the development of our psychiatric services continues and that acceptable standards of care and accommodation are delivered to mentally ill patients.
