Vol. 517 No. 3
213 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will carry out a review of mental health policy in view of the recent studies carried out which showed that psychiatric illness is higher in homeless men in Dublin than in London, that only one third are receiving treatment and many of them did not have medical cards due to the lack of knowledge. [9990/00]
I am aware that the homeless are a high risk group in relation to a number of health conditions, including mental illness. While homeless people would typically have access to the full range of health services without charge, for a variety of reasons, their take-up of services is significantly lower than the general public.
Current mental health policy, including the provision of care to the homeless mentally ill, is based on the recommendations contained in the report Planning for the Future, which was published in 1984. The report recommended that psychiatric care should be primarily community oriented. Successive Governments have pursued this policy and the move from an institutional to a community based setting has resulted in many improvements in our mental health services. It is the intention to continue to develop community based services encompassing the provision of specialised services for at risk groups including homeless people with mental health problems.
In the Eastern Regional Health Authority area, a specific mental health programme for the homeless is in place with residential and day facilities together with an outreach programme. Resources have been made available by my Department to the authority, in the current year, to enable an additional consultant psychiatrist led multi-disciplinary team to be put in place to deal specifically with the needs of homeless people who are mentally ill.
