In 2012, a special allocation of €35m was provided for mental health to be used primarily to further strengthen Community Mental Health Teams in both adult and children's mental health services, to advance activities in the area of suicide prevention, to initiate the provision of psychological and counselling services in primary care, specifically for people with mental health problems and to facilitate the re-location of mental health service users from institutional care to more independent living arrangements in their communities, in line with A Vision for Change. 414 posts were approved to implement the €35m package of special measures.
Budgetary pressures within the HSE delayed the full utilisation of the €35 million allocated in Budget 2012 for the development of community mental health services, but this sum is available again this year together with a further additional €35 million which was provided in Budget 2013 for the continued development of mental health services across a range of headings, including the further development of forensic services and community mental health teams for adults, children, older persons and mental health intellectual disability, and to the recruitment of 477 additional staff to implement these measures.
Recruitment of the posts approved for both 2012 and 2013 is continuing. As of end September, the recruitment process is complete for 378 or 91% of the 414 posts approved in 2012 and 255 or 54% of the posts approved in 2013 were in the final stages of the recruitment process and a further 149 were at earlier stages, indicating that 85% of posts are in the recruitment process. The HSE's National Recruitment Service is currently working to ensure that the remaining posts will be filled as soon as possible, from existing panels or through competition in the absence of panels, at the earliest opportunity. Options to enable more local recruitment are also being considered where this will assist in filling specific posts. I have received assurances from the HSE that the recruitment process for these new posts is being given priority within the HSE.
In Budget 2014, the Government has again re-committed to the continuation of the development of this critical service in these extremely challenging times, where the options for additional expenditure generally are very constrained. €20 million is being ringfenced for the further development of our mental health services in 2014 which will enable the HSE to continue to develop and modernise our mental health services in line with the recommendations of A Vision for Change and will allow for the recruitment of additional staff to further enhance our-
- Adult Community Mental Health Teams
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Teams
- Specialist Mental Health Teams
In addition, this funding will facilitate the recruitment of additional Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention and the implementation of national suicide prevention initiatives.
This €20m means that, despite serious resource pressures overall, funding of €90m has been made available since 2012 up to end of 2014, which has been specifically ear-marked for mental health and suicide prevention.
In relation to the specific queries raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter it has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.
The following information was provided under Standing Order 40A
In 2012, a special allocation of €35m was provided for mental health to be used primarily to further strengthen Community Mental Health Teams in both adult and children's mental health services, to advance activities in the area of suicide prevention, to initiate the provision of psychological and counselling services in primary care, specifically for people with mental health problems and to facilitate the re-location of mental health service users from institutional care to more independent living arrangements in their communities, in line with A Vision for Change. 414 posts were approved to implement the €35m package of special measures. Budgetary pressures within the HSE delayed the full utilisation of the €35 million allocated in Budget 2012 for the development of community mental health services with recruitment commencing towards the very end of 2012, but this sum is available again this year together with a further additional €35 million which was provided in Budget 2013 for the continued development of mental health services across a range of headings, including the further development of forensic services and community mental health teams for adults, children, older persons and mental health intellectual disability, and to the recruitment of 477 additional staff to implement these measures. Recruitment of the posts approved for both 2012 and 2013 is continuing. As of end September, the recruitment process is complete for 378 or 91% of the 414 posts approved in 2012 and 255 or 54% of the posts approved in 2013 were in the final stages of the recruitment process and a further 149 were at earlier stages, indicating that 85% of posts are in the recruitment process. There are a number of posts for which there are difficulties in identifying suitable candidates due to factors including availability of qualified candidates and geographic location and the remainder are at various stages in the recruitment process. The HSE's National Recruitment Service is currently working to ensure that the remaining posts will be filled as soon as possible, from existing panels or through competition in the absence of panels, at the earliest opportunity. Options to enable more local recruitment are also being considered where this will assist in filling specific posts. I have received assurances from the HSE that the recruitment process for these new posts is being given priority within the HSE.
The lack of single integrated financial systems in the current HSE and the minimal reporting capacity at care group level of these existing systems results in significant challenges in providing more detailed and timely responses to the specific information being sought, particularly relating to 2012. The information provided below should be treated as estimated and currently part of a deliberative process and therefore, subject to review and amendment.
For the purposes of clarification, there is no provision in Vote accounting for the carry forward in the revenue vote of unspent monies from year to year of funding which is not fully expended. Any un-expended funding at year end on the Revenue side is either surrendered to the Exchequer or used on an end of year basis to cover unfunded costs or as part of an overall supplementary at year end. This was the position with the unspent mental health allocation in 2012 which was reallocated to other urgent health sector priorities in the context of the 2012 HSE Supplementary Estimate.
The HSE have reported that following the establishment of the new Mental Health Division late summer this year, a process is underway to examine the actual costs in 2013 arising from approved and appointed posts funded from the 2012 allocation and also agreed non-pay costs. The budgetary allocation resulting from the 2012 €35m.funding was estimated as staff costs of €27.4m. and non-staff costs of €7.6m. Based on the current ongoing complex process examining actual expenditure against these allocations, it is estimated that the staff costs of 402.5 WTES, pay and non-pay, spent in 2013 from this 2012 allocation will be €15m. by year end. These staff costs relate to increased capacity in all of the teams described above. Of the non-staff allocation, it is estimated that €3m. has been spent in 2013 including €2m for Genio and €0.8m. for five months of CIPC counselling sessions. There is no equivalent information available on actual expenditure in 2012 against the allocated €35m., other than the provision of the €2m. to Genio also in 2012.
In relation to expenditure against the 2013 allocation of €35m and associated 477 posts, HSE are expecting to validate the position regarding new posts filled at end of October and can estimate spend once that data is available.
In Budget 2014, the Government has again re-committed to the continuation of the development of this critical service in these extremely challenging times, where the options for additional expenditure generally are very constrained. €20 million is being ringfenced for the further development of our mental health services in 2014 which will enable the HSE to continue to develop and modernise our mental health services in line with the recommendations of A Vision for Change and will allow for the recruitment of additional staff to further enhance our-
- Adult Community Mental Health Teams
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Teams
- Specialist Mental Health Teams
In addition, this funding will facilitate the recruitment of additional Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention and the implementation of national suicide prevention initiatives. This means that, despite serious resource pressures overall, the re-commitment of the previous €70m. plus the new €20m., provides for funding of €90m being made available since 2012 up to end of 2014, which has been specifically ear-marked for mental health and suicide prevention.
