Vol. 512 No. 6
272 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the plans, if any, he has to formulate a new plan for the psychiatric services in view of the fact that the policy document, Planning for the Future, is over ten years old. [27040/99]
Planning for the Future, which was published in December 1984, set out the fundamental objectives of policy on the care of the mentally ill which have been adopted by successive Governments since that time. The Green Paper on Mental Health, published in 1992, reviewed these objectives and concluded that the psychiatric services were making good progress towards achieving them. The priorities for the development of the psychiatric services were further developed and put in the context of a framework for the development of all health services in the health strategy, Shaping a Healthier Future, published in 1994. The policy objectives first set down in Planning for the Future are still valid today and I am satisfied that progress continues to be made towards their achievement. The Mental Health Bill, 1999, which was published today, will represent a further significant development in mental health services and I have made funding available in 2000 for the implementation of the proposals contained in the Bill.
273 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will comment on a recent statement by a prominent psychiatrist that general practitioners and consultants are so afraid to involuntarily admit patients to psychiatric hospitals that many sick patients are left without hospital care due to the inadequacies of the Mental Treatment Act, 1945; and the steps, if any, he will take to deal with this issue. [27041/99]
It has been acknowledged by successive Governments in recent years that the Mental Treatment Act, 1945, is in need of reform. The Mental Health Bill, 1999, published today, will repeal much of the 1945 Act and replace it with provisions which are more appropriate to the modern practice of psychiatry.
